The Ecology Book


Book Description

Study the relationship between living organisms and our place in God's wondrous creation! Learn important words and concepts from different habitats around the world to mutual symbiosis as a product of the relational character of God. Designed with a multi-age level format especially for homeschool educational programs. Examine influential Scientists and their work, more fully understand practical aspects of stewardship, and investigate ecological connections in creation! The best-selling Wonders of Creation series adds a new biology-focused title that unveils the intricate nature of God's world and the harmony that was broken by sin. This educational resource is color-coded with three educational levels in mind: 5th to 6th grades, 7th to 8th grades, and 9th through 11th grades, which can be utilized for the classroom, independent study, or homeschool setting. Whether used as part of our newly developed science curriculum or simply as a unique unit study, the book includes full-color photos, informative illustrations, and meaningful descriptions. The text encourages an understanding of a world designed, not as a series of random evolutionary accidents, but instead as a wondrous, well-designed system of life around the globe created to enrich and support one another.




Bible and Ecology


Book Description

In this well-argued and timely book, Bauckham considers the relationship of humans to 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, which has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth’s resources. He also critiques the notion of stewardship as being on the one hand presumptuous, and on the other too general a term to explain our key responsibilities in caring for the earth. In countering this, he considers other biblical perspectives, including the book of Job, the Psalms and the Gospels, and re-evaluates the biblical tradition of ‘dominion’, in favour of a ‘community of creation’.With its clear analysis and thought-provoking conclusions, The Bible and Ecology is an essential read for anyone interested in a biblically grounded approach to ecology.




Creation and Ecology


Book Description

In this book Ronald A. Simkins addresses the current environmental crisis and what the Bible might contribute in response to it. The environmental crisis includes loss of biodiversity, degradation of the soil, and especially climate change. If left unchecked, these trends will bring about the collapse of human civilization. These environmental problems are interrelated and share a similar cause: the exploitation of the natural world through an economy structured by capitalist relations of production and powered by the burning of fossil fuels. Through our economic relations, we have depleted natural resources, polluted natural environments, and altered natural processes. These problems are a product of our political economy, which entails not only our politics, ideology, and religion, but primarily our economic system. Because the crisis is economic at its core, Simkins first sets the Bible within its own economic context, exploring how the biblical ideas of creation—an understanding of the human relationship to the natural world—were the product of the ancient Israelite political economy. Then Simkins places the biblical tradition in conversation with the current environmental crisis. The result is a far richer view of creation in the biblical tradition and a better understanding of what is at stake in the current environmental crisis.




Living in God's Creation


Book Description

The ecological vision of Orthodox Christianity portrays creation as God⿿s epiphany and the human person as a connecting link between creation and Creator. Christian love is manifest through "the right use of material things." With fresh wisdom and insight, Elizabeth Theokritoff draws on the Fathers, the liturgy, saints' lives, and modern sources to challenge both theologians and non-theologians to change the way they think. This is a compelling read.




Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration


Book Description

Can Orthodox Christianity offer unique spiritual resources especially suited to the environmental concerns of today? This book makes the case that yes, it can. In addition to being the first substantial and comprehensive collection of essays, in any language, to address environmental issues from the Orthodox point of view, this volume with contributions from the most highly influential theologians and philosophers in contemporary world Orthodoxy will engage a wide audience, in academic as well as popular circles--resonating not only with Orthodox audiences but with all those in search of a fresh approach to environmental theory and ethics that can bring the resources of ancient spirituality to bear on modern challenges.




Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology


Book Description

Many people see the environmental crisis as a spiritual one. Author Ellen Bernstein sees the Book of Genesis as a guide to living peaceably with the Earth. The creation story, according to Bernstein, invites a deep appreciation of nature and may be the perfect muse for a world that is hungry for an integrated ecological vision. Written from a Jewish perspective, this book is both accessible and compelling to a broad audience, as it explores Genesis 1, verse by verse, reflecting on the language that contributes to a holistic ecological vision.




Creation-Crisis Preaching


Book Description

How can we proclaim justice for God's Creation in the face of global warming? How does fracking fit with "the earth and its fullness are the Lord's?" Creation-Crisis Preaching works with the premise that all of Creation, including humankind, needs to hear the Good News of Jesus' resurrection in this age in which humanity is "crucifying" Creation. Informed by years of experience as an environmental activist and minister, Leah Schade equips preachers to interpret the Bible through a "green" lens, become rooted in environmental theology, and learn how to understand their preaching context in terms of the particular political, cultural, and biotic setting of their congregation. Creation-Crisis Preaching provides both theoretical grounding and practical tips for preachers to create environmental sermons that are relevant, courageous, creative, pastoral, and inspiring.




Plundering Eden


Book Description

Christian ecotheology runs the risk of making God himself a resource for human exploitation as a means to species survival. The world of climate change, soil depletion, and mass species extinction reveals a frightening conclusion--humans act as cosmic parasites. The problem is not with the world--talk of climate change blames the symptoms displayed by the victim--but with human epistemology. Humans are systematically incapable of rightly perceiving reality, and so must socially construct reality. The end of this epistemological problem is necessary ecological devastation by the development of civilization. In Plundering Eden, Wagenfuhr traces ecological problems to their root cause in the broken imagination, and argues that reconciliation with God the Creator through Jesus Christ is the only means to ecological healing through a renewed, kenotic imagination expressed in the creation of an alternate environment that reveals the kingdom of God--the ekklesia.




Salvation Means Creation Healed


Book Description

The Bible promises the renewal of all creation--a new heaven and earth--based on the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For centuries this promise has been sidelined or misunderstood because of the church's failure to grasp the full meaning of biblical teachings on creation and new creation. The Bible tells the story of the broken and restored relationship between God, people, and land, not just God and people. This is the full gospel, and it has the power to heal the church's long theological divorce between earth and heaven. Jesus' resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit is the key, and the church as Christ's body is the primary means by which God is reconciling all things through Jesus Christ. Jesus' ultimate healing of all creation is the great hope and promise of the gospel, and he calls the church to be his healing community now through evangelism, discipleship, and prophetic mission.




New Creation Ecology


Book Description

New Creation Ecology is a heart appeal to fellow Christians to consider environmental stewardship as a vital part of their relationship to their Creator, Jesus Christ. The new birth is the vital link to knowing his presence spiritually as well as by asking the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the earth, and the fish of the sea where he enjoys the expression of his own nature and desires to share in the wonder of it all with the crown of his creation-man. Recommendation: I think New Creation Ecology is a worthy contribution to an otherwise neglected subject. I like the perspective of personal and passionate advocacy from a biblical perspective. May the Lord use it to stir Christians to a more mindful and conscientious stewardship of God's beautiful garden! Pastor Craig Harris, Grace Baptist Church, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Tom's work sets the Christian on a course for a God-honoring care of nature, for love of its Creator, and a desire for His glory through biblical stewardship. I commend Tom's work, and all his efforts, to call all of us to a biblical stewardship of our Father's world. Jeff Garner, Administrator, Providence Christian Academy, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. I highly recommend Tom's book, New Creation Ecology, which is a study of the Christian witness to God's creation. Tom's autobiographical approach makes this book personal as well as biblical and theological. His stories and descriptions of the natural world invite the reader into the forests, streams and mountains that he explores. His passion for stewardship of God's world is evident throughout. As an avid lover of God's creation, I will be giving this book to my children and grandchildren to further inspire their love of God the Creator. C. Kenneth Shannon, Ph.D.