Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
Abstract
Current global environmental challenges—species loss, overconsumption, climate change, and others—have not been countered in the faith community with a response worthy of their signifi cance. While the prevailing faith-based creation-care paradigm, environmental stewardship, has been invaluable in moving us beyond the utilitarian notion of “dominion,” the stewardship concept does not suffi ciently emphasize our embedded, dependent relationship with the creation. To better represent our creationcare responsibilities, we propose a new paradigm based on a model of servanthood and informed by the concept of reconciliation ecology, which focuses on mending broken relationships between human beings and nonhuman creation. Drawing from the faithbased concept of reconciliation (as it has been applied to the God-human relationship and human-human relationships), we offer fi ve steps that are critical in moving us to a more shalomic relationship with creation: (1) recognizing the wrong we have done; (2) lamenting personal complicity; (3) minimizing further harm and working to fi x the wrong that was done; (4) accepting forgiveness; and (5) moving forward in a new relationship marked by mutual fl ourishing. We understand and describe reconciliation ecology as the most recent manifestation of how nonindigenous North Americans have historically understood their responsibility toward nonhuman creation. We also discuss how reconciliation ecology is different from Christian environmental stewardship. To highlight the process of reconciliation ecology, we present a case study involving our work in the Plaster Creek Watershed, work that has contributed greatly to our understanding of the concepts we present here. We believe that reconciliation ecology’s emphasis on examining and changing our relationship with the creation—the way we think about it and interact with it (i.e., the way we live)—can help people of faith better comprehend and embrace the relevance of creation care to their daily living.
First Page
221
Last Page
235
Publication Date
Winter 12-2014
Recommended Citation
Warners, D., M. Ryskamp and R. VanDragt. 2014. Reconciliation ecology: A new paradigm for advancing creation care. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Vol 66 no. 4, pp 221-235