Book Review: For the Beauty of the Earth

 Media + Creation: a series which explores all things green and creation care related as found in the media and pop culture

Just last month a new edition of For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care by Steven Bouma-Prediger was released. This book, originally released in 2001, is an excellent resource for those looking to engage more deeply with understanding why Christians should care for God’s creation.

In this book Bouma-Prediger explores a Christian vision for caring for creation. His central claim is that, “authentic Christian faith includes care for the earth” (xii). He argues that in order to best understand who God is we must understand His creation. Thomas Aquinas once said that, “‘any error about creation also leads to an error about God’” (xi). It is from this starting point that he writes this book.

Bouma-Prediger begins this book with a look at where we are. He describes for the reader three of the most affectionate places on earth for him: forest, mountain, and lake. He says that we must know where we live in order to love and care for it. This chapter serves to show the authenticity of his concern for the earth. He next looks at what is wrong with the world. Here he describes the issues creation faces regarding population, hunger, biodiversity, deforestation, water, land, waste, energy, air, and climate. Some of the more notable of these are: half of the earth’s forests are gone (33), “the convey of trucks containing municipal solid waste (MSW) from the United States alone would extend around the planet 3.8 times [per year]” (39), and humans are changing the earth’s climate (49). While many might argue that some of the issues are speculative, the overall effect is clear: the earth is not doing well.

Bouma-Prediger proceeds to explore whether Christianity is to blame for this degraded state of the earth. He lists a variety of arguments that place a huge burden of guilt on Christians for the present situation. While there are many problems with these arguments and the extent to which they are blamed, it is clear that Christians have not always followed through on their calling to care for creation. Bouma-Prediger then presents several of the ways in which the church is culpable.

The next chapter looks at what scripture says about ecology. He first considers God’s work of creation. Here he notes that God created everything, He often shares his power, creation is ordered, it is good, the earth is not just for humans but all creatures, and the Sabbath is the climax of creation. Next he looks at covenant, specially the covenant with Noah. He cleverly points out that the covenant was not just between God and mankind, but between God and every living creature. He notes, through the story of Job, that God is at the center of all things, not humanity. He next turns to Colossians 1:15-20 to make several key points, including: “our Redeemer is our Creator” (102), “redemption is the restoration of creation” (103), and “nothing lies outside the creative and redemptive scope of God’s grace” (103). Finally, he turns to Revelation 21-22 to consider how God will establish His kingdom on earth.

The next chapter offers a theology of creation care. First and foremost, he argues for a theocentric worldview. He also considers how the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, man as “image-bearer” of God, sin and salvation, Christ, eschatology, and the community of faith relate to various aspects of this theology. He then evaluates various ecological ethics such as the rights of future generations, biocentrism, the land ethic, and deep ecology. He quotes William Dyrness who says, “‘our moral responsibility toward the earth cannot be excluded from our Christian calling’” (128). This leads his into the following chapter which considers what kind of people Christians should be. To do this, he explores a series of ecological virtues. These include: respect and receptivity, self-restraint and frugality, humility and honesty, wisdom and hope, patience and serenity, benevolence and love, justice and courage.

Bouma-Prediger next considers why a Christian should care about creation. Here he looks at various theories, both secular and Christian. While some are much more persuasive than others, he includes all these arguments as they each have some level of value. Three key arguments were that God commands us to, His concerns are our concerns (including His concern for the environment), and as a response to God’s care for us. The result of these combined arguments is that, “care for the earth is integral to what it means to be a Christian – it is an important part of our piety, our spirituality, our collective way of being authentically Christian” (173). He concludes the book with a brief chapter on hope where he notes that our hope lies in the Lord. He concludes with the following thought: “May we each be so moved by love and gratitude that we bear witness to the good news of the gospel. In so doing we will with our lives proclaim the hope that lies within us – the hope of God’s good future of shalom.” (183)

Reflections

This was a very interesting book. It is evident that Bouma-Prediger is very knowledgeable both about theology and ecology. He clearly and simply laid out many of the complex problems that creation is faced with today. He was able to convince the reader of these challenges while being honest about those arguments that are less certain. While I’m not sure it was necessary to include the chapter about whether Christianity is to blame, his detailed analysis helped to clarify that issue. He did so without being defensive and while still acknowledging Christians’ share of complicity in the matter. In some ways it was very helpful how he developed the Christian vision for creation care from several angles: scripture, theology of caring for creation, ethical approaches, ecological virtues, and arguments for why we should care. In general, I thought he made many excellent points and brought out some crucial details from scripture. His thoughts on covenant with all creatures and on the extent of Christ’s redemption were especially helpful.

At the same time however, there were several things that disappointed me about this book. First, I would have liked to have seen him expand his use of scripture. While the texts he used to develop his argument were well-chosen, important texts, he only used a handful of them. It may have been more convincing for some if he had demonstrated that the Bible is replete with scripture related to this topic. Secondly, there seemed to be a lot that was tangential to the development of the book. Examples would include the description of the affectionate places in the first chapter and the discussion on the nature of virtue in the sixth chapter. Third, the book did not seem to flow very well overall. The development of his vision felt disjointed at times. As a result, I do not think the book was as convincing as it could have been to a Christian who did not care about creation prior to reading this.

In conclusion, I really did appreciate this book. Bouma-Prediger definitely knew what he was talking about and presented the Christian with a solid rationale for why he or she should care about caring for creation. Despite these few critiques, this is an excellent book.. In fact, I believe this is the most thorough creation care book there is. Although it might not be the most convincing book for the novice Christian interested in creation care, I would definitely recommend it for the solid theology and the thoroughness of the arguments. To be completely honest, this is my favorite creation care book, the one I most come back to. If you really want to understand why we should care for God’s creation this one book would be a great resource for you.

One last thought: The latest edition includes updated statistics, some new thoughts and quotes, and some rewritten prose. However, it is largely unchanged from the previous edition. If you already own the earlier edition and do not have a great need to have the latest edition otherwise, I recommend that you save some paper and stick with the one you have.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Baker Publishing Group Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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