EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Thirteen, Number Four July/August 2004 A Reflection On The Conference Bringing The Church Back Down To Earth by Rev. James Adams, President of The Center for Progressive Christianity, Cambridge MA The recent forum could have carried the title “Bringing Progressive Christians Down to Earth.” Most Jesus followers who think of themselves as liberal or progressive would probably agree that ecology is important, but few have developed a consistent theology of the earth. We tend to get caught up in political or doctrinal issues that divert our attention from the despoliation of the natural environment. The most important learning that I carried away from the conference in St. Paul is that liberation, feminist, process, pantheist or any other kind of theology will be incomplete without attention being paid to ecology. If we believe that we encounter the divine in the workings of the natural world, we have a responsibility to care for the world to the best of our ability. The forum also made me aware of a problem we have with language. Speakers at the conference tended to use the metaphors creator, creation, and creature. Outsiders listening in might have thought that all of us present had rejected the findings of Charles Darwin and had joined ranks with the extremists who tirelessly promote what they call “creation science” or “intelligent design.” We need to find ways of reclaiming our metaphors without inadvertently misleading those outside of our immediate communities. Home     Table of Contents