I've been waiting for this subject to turn up at some point in the book.
Is creation care an essential part of mission?
I'll quote a couple of sentences, which come off the back of some simple points made about the value of creation, the love of God for creation, the continuity (qualified rightly I think) between this creation and the new, renewed one to come, the distinction between creator and his creation, and more. I'm with Chris Wright on those issues, to begin with, but then it becomes a little muddled, I think.
'I would like to make just a few more points articulating how and why it seems to me that a biblical theology of mission... must include the ecological sphere within its scope and see practical environmental action as a legitimate part of Christian mission.'
'In the past, Christians have instinctively been concerned about great and urgent issues in every generation, and rightly included them in their overall concept of mission calling and practice.'
(p 413)
'Being Christian does not release us from being human. Nor does a distinctively Christian mission negate our human mission, for God holds us accountable as much for our humanity as for our Christianity. As Christian human beings, therefore, we are doubly bound to see active care for creation as a fundamental part of what it means to love and obey God.' (p 414)
I want to suggest at this point that part of the nagging concern I've had with the book, as with the wider issue of mission in the circles we move in, is that there is possibly a very basic confusion of categories going on here, which ends up leading us down a wrong track.
To say that Christians - as all humans - are charged with being stewards of God's creation is one thing. And surely we all agree with that. As he says, we are not released from being human. We live in a creation that has value and should be valued.
But to place that at the centre of our mission - along with other tasks such as teaching humans from all of creation to obey what Jesus commands - seems problematic. The charge to all God's human creatures to be stewards holds, but I am sure that it sits in a different place to the command to God's chosen people to be his people with all the concomitant responsibilities that entails. It doesn't sit alongside that command, as if of equal significance. God commands many things, but they do not all sit alongside each other. I think there is an order - I don't think the word hierarchy is right so I won't say that - that we need to have clear when we think about mission, and right throughout the book I do not believe Chris Wright has made this clear, which ends us up in a muddle about what we are supposed to be doing, as the church and as individuals.
Apart from anything else, I'm struggling to think of a single instance in the New Testament where the apostles take us in this direction, explicitly or implicitly. If anyone reading this can help me out, please do so. It seems to me that some significant conclusions are being read back into the Old Testament framework that Wright has constructed, before those conclusions are really warranted.
I'll be more constructive when I write my own conclusions - for the time being however, what is the place of creation care in thinking about and doing mission?
Is creation care an essential part of mission?
I'll quote a couple of sentences, which come off the back of some simple points made about the value of creation, the love of God for creation, the continuity (qualified rightly I think) between this creation and the new, renewed one to come, the distinction between creator and his creation, and more. I'm with Chris Wright on those issues, to begin with, but then it becomes a little muddled, I think.
'I would like to make just a few more points articulating how and why it seems to me that a biblical theology of mission... must include the ecological sphere within its scope and see practical environmental action as a legitimate part of Christian mission.'
'In the past, Christians have instinctively been concerned about great and urgent issues in every generation, and rightly included them in their overall concept of mission calling and practice.'
(p 413)
'Being Christian does not release us from being human. Nor does a distinctively Christian mission negate our human mission, for God holds us accountable as much for our humanity as for our Christianity. As Christian human beings, therefore, we are doubly bound to see active care for creation as a fundamental part of what it means to love and obey God.' (p 414)
I want to suggest at this point that part of the nagging concern I've had with the book, as with the wider issue of mission in the circles we move in, is that there is possibly a very basic confusion of categories going on here, which ends up leading us down a wrong track.
To say that Christians - as all humans - are charged with being stewards of God's creation is one thing. And surely we all agree with that. As he says, we are not released from being human. We live in a creation that has value and should be valued.
But to place that at the centre of our mission - along with other tasks such as teaching humans from all of creation to obey what Jesus commands - seems problematic. The charge to all God's human creatures to be stewards holds, but I am sure that it sits in a different place to the command to God's chosen people to be his people with all the concomitant responsibilities that entails. It doesn't sit alongside that command, as if of equal significance. God commands many things, but they do not all sit alongside each other. I think there is an order - I don't think the word hierarchy is right so I won't say that - that we need to have clear when we think about mission, and right throughout the book I do not believe Chris Wright has made this clear, which ends us up in a muddle about what we are supposed to be doing, as the church and as individuals.
Apart from anything else, I'm struggling to think of a single instance in the New Testament where the apostles take us in this direction, explicitly or implicitly. If anyone reading this can help me out, please do so. It seems to me that some significant conclusions are being read back into the Old Testament framework that Wright has constructed, before those conclusions are really warranted.
I'll be more constructive when I write my own conclusions - for the time being however, what is the place of creation care in thinking about and doing mission?
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