THE SONG OF CREATION

AUGUST 9, 2009

One of the greatest concerns of our time is the degradation of the environment, and the challenge of insuring the long‑term health and viability of the earth.

Environmental degradation from industrial development has been blamed on Christianity because the Church teaches that man and women are the crowning glory of God's creation, superior to every other creature, and that therefore all of creation should serve man's and woman's well‑being. So, it is argued, Christianity has legitimated the wanton exploitation of nature, and has nothing to contribute to a responsible ecology.

This critique distorts the Church's teaching and cries out for response.   To be sure, Christians do not necessarily have better ideas or advice for public policy affecting the environment, nor a clear moral resolution to disputes over economic growth versus ecological preservation.

What Christianity does offer is a vision of humanity's connectedness to nature, and an understanding of creation that is at the heart of a solution.   Many arguments about the environment are based on self‑interest, but these are all fundamentally flawed. The issue is not long‑term versus short‑term interests. These interests presume nature exists to serve our utilitarian ends. That way of thinking is part of the problem, and it is foreign to Christianity.

The mentality of consumerism and our technological mind‑set are symptoms of the difficulty, because each tends to distort what is truly, humanly good. Instead of valuing individualism, we should prize interdependence and interconnectedness.

On the other hand, romanticizing and idealizing nature is not helpful because it leads to the idea that all the achievements of human civilization have been ruinous. That's just not so. Ultimately, romanticists of nature, like technocrats, see nature and humanity as pitted against each other.  One side calls for more effective ways of dominating nature. The other calls for putting up roadblocks to technology, economic expansion, and development efforts. Again, in both cases, humanity is set in opposition to the rest of creation.

At the heart of the Judeo‑Christian tradition, though, is the view that humanity, although the crowning glory of God's creation, is not against nature but a part of it.  In Genesis 1:27, we read: "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him, male and female he created them". Elsewhere, God says that it is not good for man to be alone. This shows that to be human, and to be in God's image and likeness, is to be in relationship. We were created to be interconnected.

When Genesis narrates that God empowered man and woman to name the other creatures, it is teaching that God made us responsible for them, and made them our companions.  The biblical mandate to "fill the earth and subdue it" is not a license to exploit it, but a command to nurture and harmonize it, and to use it wisely.

In the Church's Tradition, various saints have been models of sensitivity to nature and connectedness with it. St. Frances, for example, spoke of "brother sun" and "sister moon". St. Augustine, describing an ecstasy, talked of passing through all the spheres of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Then, he said, all heavenly spheres ceased their music, after singing the song which they constantly sing, namely, "We did not make ourselves. We were created by God". Augustine understood that the reason the universe exists is because God created it out of love. Therefore, we should also love it as God's handiwork, and care for it.

We could also say that because all of creation reflects the glory of God, it is a sacrament, a holy sign of the goodness and creative power of God. When we pay attention to creation and care for it, we begin to see all things in their relation to God, and to value all things for what they are in themselves. And this leads us to God.  To acquire such a sacramental vision, we would do well to begin by acknowledging the poverty of a utilitarian vision that knows only how to look at things to see how they can be used.

We cannot afford to halt technological advance. But we need wisdom and effective political leadership to direct it. Authentic human development is not about exploiting nature for material gain, but about cultivating a religious sense of reverence for it. We must meet people's material needs, but we must also relearn the song that all other creatures have sung since the dawn of creation, "We did not make ourselves. We were made by God".

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

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