1. Commentary
2. Review: Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation
Care
3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry
1. Commentary
This is a profound and inspiring newsletter. I would add that animal
advocates/animal rights persons live in a constant state of grief over the
ongoing egregious cruelty against these precious animals worldwide. I am
never without that sadness. I feel helpless to ever stop it. I found a very
pregnant black widow in my house recently and of course I didn't kill her. I
put her in my bug jar and took her down to the ditch and told her never to
come back. None of God' animals are superfluous . . . she had meaning.
Karen Borch, author of Farewell with Love
2. Review: Beyond Stewardship: New
Approaches to Creation Care By David P. Warners and Matthew Kuperus
Heun (eds.)
Talking in terms of stewardship has been one effective way for animal and
environmental protectionists to find common ground with Christians who don’t
prioritize animal or environmental concerns. However, as the writers of this
collection of essays note, framing animal and environmental protectionism as
Christian stewardship can be problematic. They offer different ways that
Christians can articulate the need for humans to interact with the natural
world in benign ways.
For starters, while most Christians acknowledge that we should be good
stewards of the earth, this general consensus has not prevented most
Christians from favoring a relationship with nature that is violent,
destructive, and, ultimately, not sustainable. Most Christians eat meat and
other animal products, which causes massive animal suffering and
environmental damage, and denial of human-induced climate change is
widespread among Christians.
One reason is that many Christians have notions about stewardship that do
not lend themselves to protecting animals and the environment. For many
Christians, human stewardship of Creation suggests control of the natural
world and discourages thinking about humans as being intimately integrated
with and dependent on the rest of Creation. Many Christians, reflecting a
humanocentric worldview, align "stewardship" with "wise use." They see
nature as God' gift to humankind. We should be careful not to destroy nature
not because nature has inherent value but because doing so will ultimately
harm humans. Combining this worldview with a conviction that humans can
wisely "manage" wildlife and other natural "resources" has repeatedly
resulted in ecological and environmental harm. One very nice essay that will
likely interest many CVA members is Reimagining our Kinship with Animals
by Matthew C. Halteman and Megan Halteman Zwart.
The authors explore other ways we might think about how Christian faith and
tradition can inform and inspire a respectful and benign relationship to
nature. For example, we could see nature as a sacred manifestation of God's
goodness, we could regard nature as belonging to God rather than humans, and
we could recognize the finitude of our understanding and be filled with a
sense of mystery, awe, and wonder.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry