EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Seven, Number Two January/February 1998 What is Ecological Sin? The ecological crisis and the host of actions contributing to that crisis are best understood in the context of sin. This interpretation alerts us to the powers behind the plunderings and the intimidating obstacles to reform.... Sin is strictly a human phenomenon, though its effects are universal problems.... Sin literally defiles the land. Ecologically, sin is the refusal to act in the image of God, as responsible representatives who value and love the host of interdependent creatures in their ecosystems, which the Creator values and loves. It is injustice, the self-centered human inclination to defy God's covenant. Ecological sin is expressed as the arrogant denial of the creaturely limitations imposed on human ingenuity and technology.... The Christian understanding of sin warns us that resolving the ecological crisis demands perpetual vigilance and sufficient reforms. Fortunately, an appropriate Christian understanding of the human potential for good gives some hope that the powers of ecological sin can be contained. (from Loving Nature; Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility by James A. Nash; The Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, Washington DC; Abingdon Press, Nashville TN 1991.) Home     Table of Contents