Science	Ethics	Action	Author
Au Sable
serviced by the: Christian Environmental Studies Center @ Montreat College http://cesc.montreat.edu

Christian Colleges at an Ecological Turning Point (1)

Calvin B. DeWitt

Christian institutions are at an ecological turning point. A wide-spread crisis in Creation-- the environmental degradation of Earth and its creatures-- is forcing us to see ourselves as complicit participants in destroying God's Earth. We are compelled by this crisis to ask what it means to confess God as Creator and to affirm that the Earth is the Lord's.

Creation's challenge to Christian institutions has been experienced for the past several years at Au Sable Institute where it is reflected in its mission: "the integration of knowledge of the Creation with biblical principles for the purpose of bringing the Christian community and the general public to a better understanding of the Creator and the stewardship of God's Creation."(2) But increasingly it is being realized by the 80 Christian colleges associated with it and many more as well. The time is here for seeing Creation's challenge to all our Christian institutions. What response is necessary? What must we do?

This paper attempts to help us address this question. It is based upon experience with Au Sable during its 12-year history. It is also comes from three unusual opportunities I have been afforded. First, I have had the responsibility for extensive research on regional and global issues that relate to environment and human development.(3) Second, I have been invited to be a contributor or consultant at three major international meetings on environment and development in 1990(4). Third, I have been able to respond to invitations to 36 Christian colleges to give convocations and campus lectures and consult with faculty and administrators. This is the background from which I write about our Christian institutions-- our colleges and universities-- at an ecological turning point.

What, then, is the situation-- the context, now and in this new decade-- within which our institutional missions will shape our campuses, facilities, and programs?

THE GLOBAL SITUTATION

1. The Global Environmental Situation.-- More is known today about how the world works than at any time in history. Through the contributions of a highly-disciplined research establishment, historically unmatched in size and competence, we have accumulated immense knowledge of the requirements for sustaining life on Earth; we know more than ever before about human cultures and behavior both past and present; we have gained unprecedented knowledge of the processes that are destroying species, biotic communities, ecosystems, and life itself; we have developed a substantial theory and practice of soil conservation, biological conservation and restoration ecology. And, we have been enabled to become excellent keepers and renewers of culture, land, and life.

Yet, in the midst of such immense knowledge, we confront environmental degradation of a magnitude and extent never before experienced by our species. While knowing more about nature and conservation than any other time in human history, we never have experienced greater environmental degradation and destruction.(5) We find ourselves confronted with a number of serious degradations of Creation: (1) human-caused alteration of Earth's energy exchange with the sun, with consequences for global warming and increased influx of damaging ultraviolet radiation; (2) land degradation through loss of cropland and food production capacity by erosion, desertification and salinization; (3) water quality degradation by pollution of surface waters and groundwater; (4) deforestation and habitat destruction with nearly 100,000 square kilometers of tropical forests lost annually; (5) species extinctions in which over three species are extinguished daily; (6) global toxification by chemicals and other materials distributed by planetary circulations; and (7) human and cultural degradation whereby long-standing and sustainable human cultures are uprooted by non-sustainable development.(6)

2. The Global Social Situation.-- In the wake of the new awareness of Creation's degradations, human society has come to a turning point. Everywhere there is evidence that people, churches, corporations, organizations and nations are searching for new paradigms by which to live and direct society. As a result of this searching, there is growing expectation that those colleges and universities that take God, as Creator, seriously will provide leadership at this critical time. This new awareness also has engendered inventions of new religions (or the revival of old ones, e.g. paganism) and the New Age Movement. A glance at bookstore shelves shows an astonishing growth in this area in recent months and years: shelf upon shelf, and now even bookcase upon bookcase are dedicated to the New Age, to paganism, to Earth spirituality, often surpassing the linear footage dedicated to the Judeo-Christian heritage.

In childhood outdoor education and training of corporate executives, the New Age paradigm or Earth spirituality is becoming the norm. While teachers rarely if ever refer to the Creator on their field trips, they may join others in using the Indian "Circle of Life" as "a good way to explain the relationship of humans to the seasons and to all creatures..." teaching that "It doesn't matter where one lives because it is all one mother earth."(7) And in religious development, "The modern Pagan resurgence includes the new feminist goddess-worshiping groups, certain new religions based on the visions of fiction writers, attempts to revive ancient European religions-- Norse, Greek, Roman-- and the surviving tribal religions."(8)

THE SITUATION IN CHURCHES AND DENOMINATIONS NATIONALLY AND GLOBALLY

In churches there is a rising and in some cases explosive interest in Christian Environmental Stewardship. At the world level the two preparatory meetings of the World Council of Churches (WCC) are indicators of the growing concern of the world churches for the rampant degradation of Creation. The first, held in Seoul, Korea, March, 1990, was the World Convocation on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), attended by about 1000 people. Its significance was mainly that it occurred and that serious discussions began across denominational and national boundaries on this major issue. At the second meeting held May 13-20, 1990 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 35 key scientific and religious leaders were assembled by the WCC's Subunit on Church and Society (headed by an evangelical, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson). They produced an urgent, powerful, message to Delegates of the Seventh World Assembly at its meeting in Canberra, Australia in February, 1991 for addressing its Subtheme I, "Giver of Life - Sustain Your Creation!"

The Kuala Lumpur report states: "We write with a sense of urgency. As your preparatory document [a document that came from the JPIC meeting in Seoul] underlines, '...we live in a moment of extreme jeopardy.' Human activity is slowly closing down the life support systems of the planet. Something is terribly and dangerously wrong with our relationship to the earth. Christianity, as it has held and encouraged a theology of mastery and dominion, is partially responsible for this. We are called to repentance and conversion. This means a renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1ff) which results in a different way of seeing the world and responding to it.... The issues are: a recast theological understanding of creation: an ethic for justice and sustainability; and the calling of the churches to live for the new creation."

The Kuala Lumpur statement concludes: "The church together with other institutions must now move and take the initiative. Honoring God as Creator, the church must respond to the crisis that envelops Creation; it must respond to the Spirit that blows fresh throughout the world. Conversion from destroyers to restorers of Creation, from degraders to keepers of Creation is urgently required. The Earth itself is giving testimony, not only to God as Creator but also to human beings as destroyers. The Holy Spirit calls humankind to conversion - an about-face of awareness, of attitudes, of priorities, and of human actions. Each person must take responsibility for every aspect of the Creation that they and their institutions damage, degrade, and destroy. The churches are called to respond with courage and faith, witnessing by their actions their uncompromising belief in God as Creator, and responding to the Spirit, as followers of Jesus Christ. Life again must be seen as a gift of the Spirit, a gift to be cherished not only in ourselves but in the whole Creation."

In August, 1990 evangelical Christians from around the world were convened at the University of Zurich by the Christian College Coalition as the "Zurich Fellowship." Its aim was to focus on issues addressed in the United Nations' statement Toward a Common Future, and to provide a Christ-centered perspective toward global environmental and development issues to challenge thoughtmakers worldwide. This in turn is producing a number of other meetings and activities worldwide, including preparation for an evangelical voice at the 1992 U.N. world meeting on environment to be held in Brazil.

In February, 1991, the Seventh World Assembly of the World Council of Churches prepared a Report that takes very seriously the earlier Kuala Lumpur statement. A core of The Report of the Seventh Assembly(9) has been identified that is so substantial and so biblically rooted as to provide a base for any and all Christian churches-- evangelical and mainline-- as they seek to do God's will in Creation.(10) This core needs immediate and serious attention as a base from which all churches and Christian colleges and universities can do their work in the world. It is critically important that disagreements with other aspects of the Report should not be used to excuse churches and colleges from taking Christian responsibility for stewardship of Creation.

Other indicators of this rising and explosive interest in Christian Environmental Stewardship are: (1) the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is providing grants to each of its 70 synods in response to proposals to make churches "Creation Awareness Centers" and it recently has distributed posters and brochures on this topic to their 11,500 congregations; (2) one Synod of the ELCA (South Central Wisconsin) is working with the newly created churchwide Environmental Stewardship Office of the ELCA to produce a 3-part series of videotapes of 45 minutes each for use by ELCA and other churches: one on degradation of Creation, one on biblical principles of environmental stewardship and one on transforming churches into Creation Awareness Centers; (3) a major statement on the care and keeping the Creation by the Church of the Brethren has been distributed and is being studied by the churches for adoption; (4) the Presbyterian Church (USA) has adopted a statement on ecojustice which addresses the global environmental crisis and links it with issues of justice and peace; (5) the Southern Baptist Convention is seriously entering the discussion on the responsibility of churches for Creational stewardship; and (6) numerous Christian magazines have produced feature issues on Christian environmental stewardship including MOODY MONTHLY (Moody Bible Institute), IMPACT(Conservative Baptist Foreign Missionary Society), The CHURCH HERALD (Reformed Church in America), CHRISTIAN LIVING (Mennonite), and RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING (National Religious Broadcasters).

Still further indicators of the rising tide of interest in Christian Environmental Stewardship is the recent publication of several books, including TENDING THE GARDEN (Eerdmans, 1987), EARTHKEEPING IN THE NINETIES: STEWARDSHIP OF CREATION (Eerdmans, 1991), THEENVIRONMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT (Baker Book House, 1991), CREATION IN CRISIS (Brethren Press, 1991), EARTHKEEPERS (Herald Press, 1991), SIX BILLION AND MORE: HUMAN POPULATION REGULATION AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS(John Knox/Westminster, 1992) and MISSIONARY EARTHKEEPING (Mercer University Press, 1992).

From these events and many others that could be cited, it would appear that the care and keeping of the Creation is coming to the fore in the churches, not only as an issue for discussion, but also for action. The growing interest in churches, camps and campuses as Creation-Awareness Centers is an example of a move toward appropriate action-- a move that not only is being taken by the ELCA and other churches but also is developing in the National Retreat Director's Association and Christian Camping International.

Churches (and other Christian institutions) that seek to become Creation-Awareness Centers begin discussing what it means to honor God as Creator-- to honor Christ, "through whom all things were made" and through whom all things are reconciled (John l; Colossians 1). Where efforts have begun, discussions have included preaching biblical principles of the care and keeping of Creation, selection of Creation-rich hymns and liturgies, energy audits of buildings, natural plantings on the grounds, recycling programs, eliminating use of throwaway cups and dinnerware, maintaining a natural preserve as a "window on Creation," and buying tropical rainforest as a "Noah Project" to prevent extinction of the Creator's masterpieces.

THE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY SITUATION

An awakening is occurring toward Christian environmental stewardship in many Christian colleges across the United States and Canada. Examples are Anderson University where their president has proclaimed the campus a "recycling university" and has established the committee and administrative elements to assure this goal. Grace College in Indiana is another indicator, where the core curriculum for all students now has 1/8 devoted to Christian environmental stewardship. There also are colleges that have put environmental stewardship into the curricula by including it in their campus-wide course on Christian perspectives on learning, its development as a new academic major or a new track in an existing major, or by requiring Au Sable coursework as part of an existing major.(11)

A simultaneous shift in another direction, however has also been taking place in the colleges: a shift away from the liberal arts toward programs that are directed at attaining specific well-paying jobs. While this might be consistent with the mission of many colleges and universities, it is displacing many liberal arts courses that are essential for addressing major local and global issues of environmental degradation and environmental stewardship. In many cases, it also is preventing institutions from considering the introduction of new courses that address topics and geographic areas critical for Creation's integrity and its proper care and keeping. Among the changes in courses and fields of study over the past years are the following:

1. The Decline of Taxonomy.-- While discovering in recent years that a very substantial task remains of naming yet un-named creatures, the preparation of taxonomists has declined severely. The task of naming is far from completed-- well over half the world's species have yet to be named-- but creatures are being driven to extinction even before they have been given names.

2. The Decline of Botany.-- While deforestation has become one of the world's major problems, and while restoration ecology is increasingly necessary, the preparation of botanists is in serious decline. While botany has never been strong enough in most Christian colleges to support an academic major of its own, course offerings in biology departments have become so oriented toward the premedical student that most botanists and botany courses have been displaced. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Christian colleges to prepare an undergraduate student for graduate work in this important area.

3. The Extinction of Natural History.-- The study of nature in its broader and more integrative aspects-- natural history-- has declined over the past few decades to such a degree that it now is absent from nearly every college and university curriculum. In Christian colleges, where God is professed as Creator, this has made it virtually impossible for many to obtain any significant coursework in which students are enabled to develop awe and wonder. It has denied many from developing an appreciation of the Creation and Creator by study of Creation itself-- by actuallyworking in the field with real plants and animals living interactively within ecosystems, the biosphere, soils, water, and atmosphere. Where the Creation is studied, books have replaced its study in virtually every classroom. And the study of parts has displaced the comprehension of the whole.

4. The "Professionalization" of Ecology.-- Ecology, the integrative science which studies the interactions between organisms and environment, has become increasingly dissociated from the societal and human context of which it is a part. While this is a critical field of study for understanding how to take care of Creation, ecology is increasingly becoming reductionistic. Study of the interactions which make up this science has become increasingly "focused" to the extent that attention to the most significant of all interactions-- the interaction between human beings and the rest of the biosphere-- is severely diminished. When asked why this trend should be, one ecologist observed, "To deal too far in the direction of human interactions with life on earth would bring us too close to advocacy; and to become advocates would compromise our objectivity." The ecologist further observed, "Ours is to do our research, and do it well-- just like in any other discipline-- whether it is useful or not, whether it is used or not is not our concern."

5. The Comparmentalization of "Ethics".-- Normative ethics-- the study and practice of what ought to be, the study and practice of what is right-- does not permeate the curriculum of the colleges and universities so that each and every field of study is seen within its ethical context. Rather, ethics is seen as an academic discipline. Often, even courses in ethics focus on the historical, descriptive, or theoretical dimensions, rather than on prescriptive ethics. This even holds true for many courses in environmental ethics. In this time of environmental degradation, who in the university or college is responsible for asking the question: is it right to pollute the groundwater; is it right to drive species to extinction; is it right to alter Earth's energy exchange with the sun by our production of greenhouse gases? If these questions-- and those similar to them-- are asked at all, they usually are asked outside the discipline in which they are studied. But in most cases these questions simply are not asked in the university or college.

WHAT MUST WE DO? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGES?

The situation in church and society, in colleges and universities, globally and regionally, cannot leave us complacent. Years ago, one of Au Sable's summer faculty, Prof. Louis Sytsma (Prof. of Chemistry, Trinity Christian College) had just returned to Au Sable from a visit to a field station in the region, one with a great reputation and operated by one of the world's leading universities. After describing how it contrasted with Au Sable Institute, he told us what was the difference: "Au Sable has a mission!" "And it is that mission that makes all the difference!"

In every Christian institution, the mission-- including Christian stewardship-- should be at the core. It is the mission of our colleges and universities, and the changing context within which it operates, that provides focus toward living and serving with integrity. Three questions, it seems, need to be addressed as we work to express our mission in a changing context: (1) How does the world work? (2) What is right? (3) What must we do?(12)

The degradation of Creation which increasingly is apparent to us all, is to a large extent the result of compartmentalizing these three basic questions. The first is the domain of science, and of the college and university generally. If one knows how the world works, research papers get accepted by editors and good grades are given to students. The second is the domain of the church, the law, and the courts. With little reference to science or description of the world in its complexity and beauty, these institutions determine and pass judgment upon what is right. But, if one knows how the world works but does not know or care about what is right, then disaster is waiting; nature's laws once understood may be applied toward natures own destruction. Without care for the right we find systems being built that, viewed in context, can be seen as Creation-degradation machines. Knowledge, without care for the right, uses nature's laws to "improve upon" and displace nature. Knowledge, without care for the right sees value in nature only when transformed and replaced by human craft.

If one knows what is right, however, but not how the world works, then disaster also is waiting. One's concept of the right may be applied to the elimination of death and decay; even directed toward making things that do not wear out, that last forever. But, should we also know how the world works, we would find that such well-meaning and right-intended preservation from death and decay leads to its antithesis; righteous resistance toward death and decay itself may bring death. Thus, knowing what is right and "good," in the absence of ecological knowledge, may result in the death of the biosphere; but having ecological knowledge may lead us to celebrate decay as the means for recycling Earth's materials in support of sustained life.

The third question-- "What must we do?"-- must also be addressed. It is one that must clearly be distinguished from the question: "What can I do?" The modern answer to this question of "can" often is: "Get a job." It is a question of occupation rather than vocation. Increasingly the situation in the world is one that wants us to convert the vocational question to an occupational one-- wanting to hear the answer: "Get a job. Make 'good' money. Go where the money is."

Ours is a deeper question: "What must we do? Unless this third question is answered and acted upon, the first two questions-- about knowledge of the world and ethics-- are meaningless. Knowledge without works is dead. This fact exposes a problem in most public institutions. Do Christian colleges share this problem? Colleges and universities are largely confined to describing how the world works. Moreover, those aspects of the world that get described are increasingly governed by demand, expressed in available money, for specific kinds of knowledge. What we must do in the lecture hall, laboratory, and field is largely defined by the market, not by the mission.

If this third question is asked, one is directed to evaluate the mission of the college or university. In Christian institutions, it is the Christian mission toward which one is directed. In many situations the mission is by intent or default reshaped in the direction of satisfying the market. Colleges and universities, more and more, are not addressing in any substantial manner the question, "What must we do?"

The one-time leaders and ethical commentators on society housed in the colleges and universities have now largely become mirrors of society, their worth increasingly judged by the degree to which they reflect society and its demands.(13) Communities are reduced to individuals, vocations to jobs, professors to instructors, education to training. But in Christian institutions we know that mirroring the world, responding to its pressures, neglecting to care and keep the Creation, is not an authentic Christian life.(14)

In the Christian tradition, "What must we do?" is a question of vocation, not one of mere occupation or "making" money. While it too is a question of being mirrors, Christians are mirrors, not of society, but of the Creator. Imaging God, God's trustees do the work of the One they mirror.

As we reflect on our imaging of God, some sobering questions come to mind: Does the Creator and Sustainer of all things know how the world works? Does the Maker and Judge of all know what is right? Does the Restorer and Redeemer fail to act upon knowledge of the world and of the right? We know that our Creator fails in none of this-- and so also we, God's mirrors, must not fail.(15)

Christianity, as a system of values that leads us toward making choices for God's good Creation, not only has a place, but provides a foundation upon which the ecological choices before us can be made, and to do so Christianity must also know the Creator and our Lord's Creation. Christian colleges and universities, as institutions that instill knowledge of God's word and world, not only have a place, but provide a base for producing people who do what they must do, imaging the Creator.

We need now to ponder and refine these thoughts, applying them to our God-given and joyful task -- to our stewardly vocation. We need to refresh ourselves in the Creator's mandate to keepCreation (Gen 2:15). We have to warn ourselves of the destruction that awaits those who destroy the earth (Rev 11:18). We must renew ourselves in Christian stewardship of Creation.

Christian Creational Stewardship is affirming through our actions that the proper care and keeping of the Creation is a central part of the human task.(16) Where the first Adam and his descendants failed to keep the Earth, the second Adam leads his disciples to undo the degradation brought by the first -- toward the restoration of right ecological relationships. Where the first Adam and his descendants failed to name the creatures, the disciples of the second Adam re-establish naming of the plants and animals of the biosphere. As we disciple those among us-- students, churches, denominations, school systems, society at large-- we provide servant leadership to undo the degradation of Creation-- to restore right ecological relationships.

Given the honor of servanthood, being mirrors of the Creator's love for Creation, admonished to seek first the kingdom of God, warned that God will destroy those who destroy the earth, and informed that the whole Creation is waiting with neck outstretched for the coming of the Children of God, we are being challenged to meet Creation's care and restoration with conviction and resolve-- following the servant-example of the One through Whom all things were made and in Whom all things hold together. May we deny the world our stewardly service? May we prevent access by omission to the very knowledge necessary for meeting Creation's expectation?(17)

Christian colleges, universities and institutes must be vibrant testimonies that knowledge without stewardship is insufficient for right living; that science without love is inadequate for sustaining and restoring Creation; that stewardship is the appropriate response to God's word. We must be testify with our lives that Christianity provides a foundation upon which the ecological choices before us can rightly be made.

Our institutions are poised for doing the work of stewardship. Our colleges and universities are poised for pursuing their Christian mission in the context of Creation abused and oppressed. The time is auspicious! It is a time for sizing up -- it is a time for evaluating -- it is a time for choosing. Scripture rings out: "Now choose life!"

Endnotes

1. This paper in its earliest form was prepared as part of the Director's Report to the Board of Trustees of Au Sable Institute of Environmental studies and in it latest form as a presentation to the faculty of Whitworth College as partial fulfillment of the responsibilities of the author as the Edward Lindaman Distinguished Christian Scholar lectures given in April, 1992.

2. Official Bulletin No. 10, (Mancelona, MI 49659: Au Sable Institute, 1991) p.1. In fulfillment of this mission, "All of its programs and activities are structured to allow, and are conducted for, promotion of Christian environmental stewardship" including its planning, operations, programs, and outreach. It "provides a means whereby one can seek God's will in the world, particularly as it relates to God's call to be trustees and stewards..."

3. This opportunity comes from my work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison which I conduct during the academic year. (I spend each summer at Au Sable Institute).

4. Advisor at the Convocation on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (Seoul, Korea); Presenter of evangelical perspective on environmental stewardship to the Pre-Assembly Convocation of the World Council of Churches; presenter at the Christian College Coalition-sponsored meeting of the Zurich Fellowship in Zurich, Switzerland.

5. Aldo Leopold, in an unpublished 1947 Forward to Great Possessions, a manuscript precursor to A Sand County Almanac, and published in J. Baird Callicott, ed., Companion to Sand County Almanac: Interpretive and Critical Essays (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987, p. 281) makes a similar observation: "During my lifetime, more land has been destroyed or damaged than ever before in recorded history. ...concurrent growth in knowledge of land, good intentions toward land, and abuse of land presents a paradox that baffles me, as it does many another thinking citizen. Science ought to work the other way, but it doesn't. Why?"

6. Calvin B. DeWitt, "Seven degradations of creation," Perspectives (Feb., 1989), pp. 4-8. See also chapter 1 in C. B. DeWitt, The Environment and the Christian: What Can We Learn from the New Testament? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1991).

7. J. Wilfred Cwikiel, et al., A Proposal for an Environmental Center for the Grand Traverse Region: A Project for the Master of Science Degree (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1990) p. 156.

8. Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979) p. v.

9. The full Report is published in Signs of the Spirit: Official Report, Seventh Assembly, Canberra, Australia, 7-20 February 1991, Geneva: WCC Publications and Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, pages 235-258.

10. C. B. DeWitt. 1992. "Towards Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation." In: Bruce A. Nicholls and Bong R. Ro, eds., Beyond Canberra: Relating Faith to Life, Oxford, England: Regnum Books, pp. 97-107.

11. Examples are Dordt, Gordon, Redeemer, and Whitworth Colleges.

12. I am indebted to Herman E. Daly for his presentation of the first two questions and his analysis of how knowing the answer to the first question but not the second, and vice versa have bad consequences. His paper is "Land and resources: nature's forgotten contribution." In: A Christian Land Ethic. Au Sable Forum Papers (Mancelona, MI: Au Sable Institute, 1987).

13. I am indebted to Au Sable student, Richard Ericson, and to his advisor, Prof. Orin G. Gelderloos for their discussing with me their ideas of modern "leaders" being "mirrors."

14. See Bob Goudzwaard, Capitalism and Progress: A Diagnosis of Western Society(Eerdmans, 1979), in which he observes (p. 65) that economic life without consideration for God's nature, without concern for fellow creatures is no longer an authentic economic life. "It deviates from the loving response to God and one another which is expected in economic life also."

15. This necessity of putting knowledge into action is reinforced by Scripture, e.g. Mat 13:18,23 (the sower hears the word and understands it); Ezek 33:30-32 (they "listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice" NIV); Luke 6:46 ("Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" NIV).

16. For additional background on Christian Environmental Stewardship see Loren Wilkinson, ed., Earthkeeping in the Nineties: Stewardship of Creation, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans and C. B. DeWitt, ed., The Environment and the Christian: What Can We Learn from the New Testament?

17. Cf. Phil 2:5-8 (servanthood); Ps 104:10-21, Ps 8:6-8, Gen 1:26-27, Col 3:10 (mirrors); Matt 6:33 (kingdom); Rev 11:18 (destroy); Rom 8:19 (expectation); Gen 2:15 (Creation's care); Col 1:20 (restoration); Col 1:15--17 (created and held together). For a brief summary of other scriptural references on stewardship of Creation, see Calvin B. DeWitt, "Can we help save God's Earth?" ESA Advocate, April 1990, pp.12-13. For more detail see C. B. DeWitt, ed. The Environment and the Christian: What Can We Learn from the New Testament?

Reprinted with permission from Faculty Dialogue: Journal of the Institute for Christian Leadership 16 (1992): 43-58. Revised.

Please mail any comments to Dr. Mark Lassiter.