The Bible and Ecology - 9781602583108

"With darity of thought and attentiveness to textual detail, Bauckham presents the rich, complex, and multilayered ways in which the Bible speaks about humans, animals, and the rest of creation. It is a lively and life-giving set of prescriptions for how humans might engage creation without violating its God-given integrity."---Stephen Fowl, Professor of Theology, Loyola University Maryland

"Extremely significant in its thesis and compelling in its execution, The Bible and Ecology even has a touch of humor here and there"---Bruce Longenecker, W.W. Melton Chair of Religion, Baylor University

"A valuable contribution to the debate about how ecology relates to the Bible. Especially helpful is his consideration of creation as a community of crucial and meaningful inter-relationships."---Norman Habel, Professorial Fellow, Flinders University, South Australia

With his characteristic rigor and perceptiveness, Richard Bauckham embarks on a biblical investigation into the relationship between human beings and the rest of creation. He argues that there is much more to the Bible's understanding of this relationship than the mandate of human dominion given in Genesis 1-and that mandate has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth's resources.

Instead, Bauckham considers the ecological perspectives found in the book of Job, the Psalms, and the Gospels, and he determines that all of them require a re-evaluation of the biblical tradition of "dominion." In so doing he reveals the biblical idea of a "community of creation" and persuasively shows how human beings are fellow members with God's other creatures and that any true reconciliation to God must involve the entire creation.

Short, reliable, and engaging, The Bible and Ecology is essential reading for anyone looking for a biblically grounded approach to ecology.