On Ecological Peace

From a Scrap of Paper and a Tortoise Pool

Time flies. I have served as the seminary president for eight years now. In that time, our seminary has come to employ some excellent teachers. Some of them are highly intellectual and virtuous; while others are rich in life skills and management experience. Thus, I love chatting with our teachers. On the one hand, I want to be their brother, taking care of and supporting them, fulfilling my duty as the president to the fullest. Since I am a pastor, I would like to be their pastor as well. On the other hand, I am also their student. I listen to their knowledge carefully, and learn from their scholarship, their living wisdom and their management experiences. Once, a teacher shared his management experience with me saying, “If there is a scrap of paper in the seminary’s carpark, the responsibility goes to the president.” After listening to that, I felt troubled. I believe it is so, yet I do not want to.

Besides talking with teachers, I also love chatting with other colleagues. Around two years ago, I talked with a colleague who loves nature and animals. She spoke ardently and shared with me her concerns. She said to me, “I’ve heard that you ordered the demolition of the tortoise pool, say it isn’t so!” No, the seminary had no plan to demolish the tortoise pool. I smiled and told her, “… Don’t you know that? I am concerned with environmental conservation, and I love animals. When I first started my presidency, I talked about the importance of environmental protection and my wish to develop more knowledge of ecological theology….

Coincidently, our seminary has been invited to participate in a waste reduction green program in these past few months. In fact, in recent years, the seminary has wanted to exercise waste separation and recycling. However, we have moved slowly. On the one hand, it is due to the lack of policy support from the government, in which there is no definite proposal on waste recycling; thus many recycled scraps are eventually deposited in landfills. On the other hand, we have not tried our best in practicing environmental protection wholeheartedly. We are not determined enough.

Based on the above experiences and feelings, I have started to talk about ecological protection with our teachers, students and colleagues. What follows are the thoughts that I developed since last year’s opening convocation ceremony.

Kingdom of God and Peace

In last year’s opening convocation ceremony, I noted that “God-centered education” concerns God’s past and future, as well as the present: His acts happen in the past, the future and now. Therefore, we should “remember” God’s creation and redemption, be “aware” of God’s commandments, and “look forward” to the land that God will give us to inhabit. In all, the purpose of theological education is not only to nurture students into maturity, but also to lead students “to remember, be aware, and have hope.” That is believing in God: have faith in God who is the present, the past and the future.

God’s redemption, commandments and his promised land link with the advent of His kingdom, the content of which is “shalom.” “Shalom” (peace) correlates to the relationships between humans and God, humans and each other, as well as humans and the land. Firstly, peace is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and God. Secondly, peace is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and each other. This relationship is found in Ephesians 2:13-18 (NIV, same version hereafter), “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” The reason Jesus came to the world is to destroy walls that separate humans and God, humans and each other, thus bringing a genuinely peaceful relationships to all.

The third peaceful relationship is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and the whole of creation. Jesus not only destroys the wall between humans and God, humans and each other, but also the wall between humans and the entirety of creation; thus humans can restore a truly peaceful relationship with the whole of creation. In Isaiah 11:6-8, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.” This passage projects a world filled with great peace: a peaceful coexistence between animals and humans. Of course, it is an eschatological condition, yet this condition also implicates the present.

Ecocide and Addictive Behaviors

Starting from this idea of peace, we can begin to discuss the problems and needs of environmental protection. The reality that we are facing is this: continuous depredation destroys nature. The destruction of the environment severely endangers the existence of humanity. Modern commercial society is pushing all of earth’s inhabitants to extinction, making the earth unbalanced and pushing us further toward ecocide.

We are in an unhealthy situation. We do not know how to balance the basic need of humanity with that of other creatures on earth, and thus we cannot make the earth into a healthy, well-balanced environment. The problem, nonetheless, is not merely about knowledge or technical skills. For instance, environmental issues are neither solved by better technologies for pollution control nor an improvement in our understanding of the importance of interspecies interdependence. The fundamental problem lies in our hearts. We lack compassionate hearts which would urge us to protect other humans and species. We refuse to change our bad habits: those lifestyles that hurt the environment. We bring about ecocide unwittingly.

Indeed, ecocide reveals a kind of human internal illness, and we may even call it a spiritual illness. Ecocide, like alcohol abuse, is an addictive behavior. On the one hand, we know that we are ruining our lives. On the other hand, we cannot stop doing it. We harm ourselves and others: We continue to deplete the ozone layer, contribute to deforestation, damage farmlands, and destroy thousands of species every day. This is because we cannot manage and get rid of our bad habits. We maintain our addiction.

Christians: The Earth’s Regent? Or Caretaker?

How about Christians? What can the Church and faithful Christians contribute.

Some Christians believe that God is the “Almighty One” who lives in Heaven far away and is very far distance from the earth. “Omnipotence” is seen as a transcendent characteristic. God is regarded as a heavenly God who does not relate to nature. While He is an absolute subject, the world is a passive subject that He rules. Understanding the form of God in this way, humans perceive themselves as subjects (subjects of intellect and will) and see the world as an object they ought to conquer. Just as God is the lord and the owner of the entire world, humans need to be the lords and owners of the earth. Therefore, humans must take “the order of ruling over the earth” as an absolute power of humanity over nature. Thinking that the world exists merely to fulfil their needs, humans view themselves as the regents of God, and even deem that they can rule over the dominion as they want: the world is the private property of humans, and thus they can freely utilize and even devastate it.

This, nevertheless, is not a Christian point of view. God is not isolated from the earth nor does He live faraway in Heaven. God correlates to nature. Humanity is not a regent; we cannot rule over the earth freely, nor devastate it. The meaning of “rule over” implies taking care of something. The creation narrative in Genesis chapter two shows God’s nurture and care for the created world: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed….The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:7-8, 15) Here, we can see God first created man, then the Garden; He put him in the Garden and asked him to rule over the Garden. Whilst the land is created for humans; humanity has been created for the land. Humankind comes from God and the earth and has to work with God in maintaining the land. In God’s plan, humanity is not just the ruler of the land; humans are also the gardeners, as well as the caretakers of the land.

Holy Spirit and Nature

Moreover, from the viewpoint of Christian theology, since the Holy Spirit inhabits the created world and sustains all forms of life, the land can be renewed.

Systematic theology often sees the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Creation.” Being the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is the One who bonds the Father and the Son in mutual love. The Holy Spirit also works with the Creator and Savior, playing the role of the Perfector. His role is to help advance and complete God’s redemption in the world.

Apart from the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit can also be understood as the Spirit of Creation. His work is to create, sustain and renew humanity and other species, enabling them to live in solidarity. Being the Spirit of Creation, the Holy Spirit is defined as God’s breath. The Spirit grants the breath of life. He is the breath that runs through every living creatures.

There are biblical foundations for this view which see “the Spirit of Creation as God’s breath.” According to the Scripture, the Spirit reveals Himself in a life form. In Genesis, Holy Spirit is the divine breath. For instance, in Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” In reference to the first two chapters of Genesis, the energetic power of the Spirit of God first creates the world through his words. When God speaks, it is the “breath” of the Spirit pouring down. God may speak through other individual creatures or breathe toward the whole creation. The integrity of the creation and the created community are both sustained by God’s breath and Spirit.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is the divine dove who sends peace and renewal to the broken world. In Genesis 8:11, “When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” In the Gospels, the Holy Spirit is a dove. In Matthew 3:16, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.” In Acts, the Holy Spirit is a tongue of fire. In Acts 2:1-4, “When the day of Pentecost came… a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven ….They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

From the above-cited verses, we can see that nature per se is described as the Holy Spirit’s primary mode of existence in the world. Breath, dove, wind and fire are forms the Holy Spirit was revealed through; the Holy Spirit works in all living things. The Holy Spirit is intimately related to the earth, yet unconstrained by nature.

One Small Step in Ecological Theology

Conclusion

If we understand all creatures and our environment in this way, we can neither think that humanity is the regent of the land, nor that we can rule over the land freely and destroy everything on the earth. As stewards, we cannot arrogantly think that we are the mediators between the Creator and the creation, nor can we believe ourselves to be transcendent, capable of dominating nature. In contrast, we have to take care of millions of creatures who face natural and human-made disasters. More fundamentally and importantly, we care about God’s created world not only for our self-interest or love for others but because this created world belongs to God.

In all, nature needs to be protected. When we practice “loving one another,” we need to protect the environment. When we protect the poor, we have to protect the environment of the poor. In fact, the environment where others and the poor live is our environment as well. More fundamentally and importantly, the created world is God’s world. If the land and all other creatures are created by God, then, because of God their dignity must be respected and thus be protected.

So far, I started one small step forward in ecological theological thinking. I hope that our teachers, students and colleagues will continue to examine, research, learn and practice issues about ecological peace and justice. I earnestly hope that our colleagues, teachers and students can continue to remind and keep guard of each other. At the end of the opening convocation ceremony, I reminded them by saying, “If there is a scrap of paper in the car park, the responsibility goes not only to the president but also to you. You all are responsible.” “It is not my will to hurt animals; you all are equally responsible. You need to cherish people, animals, flowers and trees, water, air and everything that God creates.” “The ecological environment of this seminary is not only my concern but also yours. And you do not only need to care for this seminary but the world.”

Let us share the vocation as the caretakers of the land together and protect everything God creates with one heart!

Nov 2017