80 Dialogue & Alliance

16. Peter Mark, The Wild Bull and the Sacred Forest: Form, Meaning, and CMnge in
SenJ:gamlJUl IniJiation Masks (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), P: 20.
17. uu., p. 120. Ecospirituali ty: First Thoughts
18. Prosper Lalaye Issaka,La COll£eptiJm de la Personne dans La Pensee traditionelle Yoruba:
Approad, Phenomenologue (Berne: Herbert land and Cie 'sa, Publications Universi­
taires Europeennes server xx Vol. 3), p. 73.
19. Ibid. by Ned Hettinger
20. C. L. Adeoye, Igbagbo ati Esin Yoruba [Belief and Ritual of the Yoruba] (Nigeria:
Evans Brothers, 1989), p. HO.
21. Robert Farris Thompson, Blad. Gods and Kings: Yoroba Art at the University of I. The Earth's Story
California at LosAngeks (LosAngeles: Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and
Technology, 1971). HIS IS A REMARKABLE TIME on planet earth. Students of
[f
. natural history may need convincing of this point, however, for
the earth's story is fantastic from the very beginning.' Our
expanding universe arose from a fiery bang some 15 billion years ago
of something infinitely hot and dense/' At that time, "all the matter
and energy we can observe was concentrated in a region smaller than
a dime.,,3 The planet-itself a remarkable achievement-is theorized
to have arisen from a process of accretion whereby cosmic dust
particles lumped together. As they increased in size, they began
crashing into each other and merging until 4.5 billion years ago the
planet that is our home came into existence,4
After a billion years of cooking and random trial and error, life
arose from this nonliving primordial soup (a process scientists call the
"abiotic synthesis")." During the 3 billion years that followed of
exclusively single-celled organisms, major events included the devel­
opment of the nucleus as a mechanism for governing the cell (2 billion
years ago), the incredible ability to convert sunlight into food (photo­
synthesis) thus setting the stage for heterotrophic life and food chains,
and an aerobic lifestyle in an oxygen atmosphere (oxygen was toxic to
the earliest organisms). 600 million years ago, during the "Cambrian
explosion"-5teven Jay Gould calls it "5 million years of intense
creativity,,6-multicellular life arose. Next came vertebrates. Life then
makes its way out of water onto land, and then a SOO-million-year
period of repeated mass extinctions: one wiped out nearly 90 percent
of all life forms; another was possibly caused by the impact of a
"trillion ton meteor,,,7 Ice ages have come and gone repeatedly, the
most recent one (ending 10,000 years ago) covered much of North
America with an ice sheet 1 mile thick,8
What, then, is so remarkable about the present era in light of this
glorious and turbulent history of earth? Despite the past mass
 Hettinger: Ecospirituali ty 83
82 Dialogue & Alliance
II. Religion and Environmental Concern
extinctions, there has never been more diversity oflife on earth: 1.4
million forms of life catalogued, 5 million to perhaps 100 million How we evaluate this massive humanization of the earth depends
9
species total. Although trilobites and dinosaurs are gone, there exists upon how we conceive ofhuman beings and our appropriate place o~
buffalo grass that is thought to be 10,000 years old, 37-acre, 100 ton the earth. Although ethics by itself has much to say about this issue,
fungi whose kind can grow one kilometer per day, and individual religion has a good deal to contribute as well. Religion is an incredibly
insects (queen bees) that can produce 20 million offspring. powerful force in human life and our spiritual attitudes toward the
Human beings are also present and what a marvelous and earth, its teeming life forms and human presence, has had and will
troubling species we are. We can love each other; we write poetry and have powerful affects on the human-nature relation. As one commen­
can laugh; we can propel ourselves off the surface of the earth; we can tator puts it, "What people do about their ecology depends on what
wonder about the meaning of our lives and about the value of life they think about themselves in relation to things around them.
itself. The human phenomenon is clearly a remarkable part of the Human ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and
earth's history and of great value. destiny-that is, by religion.,,16 Thinking about the human-nature
But humans also are capable of incredible evil, not only against relation in spiritual terms is historically revealing; it can help us
each other, but against other species and against the ground of our understand how we have arrived at our present situation. It is
being, this earth from which we evolved. So this is a remarkable time in pragmatically useful; it can improve our treatment of the natural
an unfortunate sense as well. Never before has one individual form of world. And it is conceptually illuminating; religion can help us better
life destroyed so many other forms of life and so rapidly: The rate of understand how we should think about and relate to the planet.
anthropogenic species extinction is hundreds-perhaps thousands­ This paper considers the dialectic between religion and environ­
of times greater than normal background extinction rates, resulting mental concern. It explores how religious views can enhance as well
in a possible loss of one-quarter of all species within fifty years. 10 One as detract from environmental concern. Conversely, it also seeks to
eminent scientist suggests that "we are in the midst of one of the great use environmental concern to inform religious belief It articulates
extinction spasms of geological history."!' This time, however, the and! attempts to make persuasive an ecospirituality that finds this
cause is a species who should know better and who is therefore earth a holy place. On this view, if there is anything sacred, anything
culpable for this drastic impoverishment of life. that is worthy of reverence and devotion, it is this miraculous earthen
Humans are now swarming over the planet and dramatically community of life processes.
reordering it. Our species, Homo sapiens, one species among millions My attempt to spiritualize environmental concern (and to ecologize
of others, now appropriates between twenty and forty percent of the religion) has as its context the Western atheistic and humanistic
12 17
photosynthetic energy produced by land plants. Humans now rival reaction to the Judeo-Christian tradition. The position I develop is
the major geologic forces in our propensity to move around soil and as an alternative to each of these options and is thus likely to draw
rock: "Through both brute force and indirect influences, people move protest from them both. Ecospirituality is not atheistic in the sense of
roughly 40 billion tons of soil and rock each year, a value that equals anti-religious, for it locates religious and spiritual significance in the
or exceeds the material transport by any other single agent such as earth. It has a strongly anti-humanistic bent, not in the sense that it
water, wind and ice.,,13 Human population, currently at 5.6 billion, is is anti-human, but .in its steadfast opposition to the anthropocentrism
projected by the United Nations to more than double by the middle that sees humans as of ultimate significance and that thinks human life
of the next century. 14 If one leaves out Antarctica, there are now 100 has meaning apart from its context as one expression of the earth's
humans for every square mile of the land surface of the earth.l" creative energies. It is not Judeo-Christian because it does not speak
of a transcendent ground to the religious significance of this world.
My ecospirituality has a thoroughly immanent conception of the holy.
 84 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituali ty' 85

Salvation is to be found in an altered understanding of and relation­ A defender of human dominion might argue that this outlook can
ship to this earth, not in getting in touch with or finding a way to support strong environmental concern because recent human­
attain something beyond this world. This view is naturalistic in the induced changes in the natural world are not compatible with
sense that it accepts that nature is all that is. But the nature it accepts "respect for the sacredness of the human person." It is true that
is a sacred and precious nature. humans, too, suffer as a result of the recent onslaught on the
My procedure will be to critically evaluate traditional Judeo­ environment. But, the success of this argument depends on a
Christian attitudes toward the earth and humans' place on it and then conception of human flourishing that deeply connects humans with
to develop and defend my own ecospirituality as a response. IS nature. Only in this way can it be maintained that driving other life
forms out of existence impoverishes human life. The human domin­
III. Judeo-Christian Attitudes Towards the
ion view, however, dramatically separates humans from nature in a
Environment way that makes the case that humans are losing due to environmental
22
destruction more difficult to defend. We are godly, sacred, spiritual
A. Human Dominion over the Earth beings in a world of spiritless and profane resources that are our
On the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, the Roman Catholic God-given property. Ifwe lose, due for example to species extinction,
Archbishop of New York John Cardinal O'Connor cautioned the our loss is not because of some spiritual connection humans have with
celebrants to remember that, "The earth exists for the human person all life, but because of more mundane reasons like the possibility we
and not vice versa." Rather than focus on "snails and whales," Earth have lost a cure for cancer. Despite what the popular environmental
Day should focus on "the sacredness of the human person." He was movement often suggests, I think it doubtful that we are threatening
worried that the rising ecological consciousness represented by Earth our existence with our current environmental onslaught. Granted, we
Day relegated humans to a subsidiary rather than the central role 0," are losing food sources here and potential medicines there. But this
earth. 19 sort of shallow anthropocentric evaluation of environmental value will
O'Connor's comments fit the often quoted Biblical passages that at best get us relatively minor modifications to current environmental
23
give humans dominion over the earth. After God made the earth and practices and policies.
nonhuman living beings, God made man and woman and told them Lynn White, Jr. is perhaps the best-known critic ofthis particular
to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have. Christian attitude toward nature. In his classic "The Historical Roots
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and of Our Ecological Crisis," White identifies "orthodox Christian
over every living thing that moves upon the earth. ,,20 Add to this that arrogance toward nature" as a root cause of environmental problems.
"God created man in his own image,,21 and the supposition that only He claims that "Christianity bears a huge burden of guilt" and that
humans are made in God's image (and thus that the rest of creation "Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has
is devoid of spirit) and we get an interpretation of the Judeo-Christian seen.,,24 O'Connor provides a recent reaffirmation of White's claim
tradition that gives humans a license to dominate the earth. On this that for orthodox Christianity, "God planned all of this explicitly for
view, human dominion is to be understood literally as a grant of man's benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any
supreme authority over and absolute ownership of the earth. purpose save to serve man's purposes.t'"
From this perspective, it would seem that humans are doing quite Perhaps the most forceful rebuttals to this Judeo-Christian
well in our relationship to the earth and especially so recently (in the sanctioned human dominion over the earth have come from devout
last hundred years). We are making great strides in subduing the Judeo-Christians themselves who question the theological assumptions
planet and exponential human population growth is filling the earth of this view. John Muir, a Christian nature mystic and founder of the
26
with humans and human artifacts. Here, it seems, we have a religious Sierra Club, is worth quoting at length:
justification for contemporary environmental degradation.
 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituality 87
86

The world, weare told, was made especially for man-a presumption White knows this. for. at the end of his essay. he proposes Saint
not supported by all the facts. A numerous class of men are painfully Francis of Assisi as a patron saint for those concerned to develop an
astonished whenever they find anything, living or dead, in all Cod's alternative Christian attitude toward nature that is properly humble
universe, which theycannot eat or render in some way what they call about the human role in the scheme of things.
usefulto themselves...To such property trimmed people, the sheep,
for example, is an easy problem-food and clothing 'for us', ... B. Anthropocentric Stewardship
In the same pleasant plan, whales are storehouses of oil for us, to help Perhaps the most widespread Christian response to these types of
out the stars in lighting our dark ways until the discovery of the criticisms is the idea that dominion does not mean supreme authority
Pennsylvania oil wells. Among plants, hemp, to say nothing of the and absolute ownership over the earth. but rather stewardship. On
cereals, is a case of evident destination for ships' rigging, wrapping this view, that God gave humans dominion over the earth doesn't
packages, and hanging the wicked. Cotton is another plain case of
mean that the earth is human property to be disposed of as best suits
clothing. Iron was made for hammers and ploughs, and lead for
bullets; all intended for us. our purposes. but rather that we are stewards of something that still
belongs to God. The earth and its creatures are God's creation and
But if we should ask these profound expositors of Cod's intentions, Gods' purpose for humans is to be caretakers of God's property. A
How about those man-eating animals-lions, tigers, alligators-which steward manages the affairs of someone else. If humans are to be
smack their lips over raw man? Or about those myriad of noxious good stewards. they must manage the earth carefully and treat it with
insects that destroy labor and drink his blood? Doubtless man was
the concern appropriate to the situation where one is taking care of
intended for food and drink for all these? Oh, no! Not at all! These
are un resolvable difficulties connected with Eden's apple and the someone else's property. On this view. humans are the earth's care­
Devil Why does waterdrown its lord? Why do so many minerals poison takers for an absentee landlord. A caretaker may use the land and
him? Why are so many plants and fishes deadly enemies? Why is the property he looks out for. but he should not abuse or diminish it.
lord of creation subject to the same lawsof life as his subjects? ... This stewardship understanding of humans' God-given place on
the earth clearly has advantages over the dominion view in terms of
Now, it never seems to occur to these far-seeing teachers that Nature's
object in making animals and plants might possibly be first of all the its implications for ecological concern. Extirpating species when they
happiness of each one of them, not the creation of all for 'the belong to us is one thing. But if forms of life belong to God. then
happiness of one. Why should man value himself as more than a unless we have clear evidence that he wants us to destroy them we had
small part of the one great unit of creation? .. The universe would better not. Similarly. a good caretaker of a piece of property does not
be incomplete without man; but it would also be incomplete without heavily impact that property. use a third of its resources for his or her
the smallest transmicroscopic creature that dwells beyond our con­ own benefit. dramatically rearrange the entire landscape. nor put his
ceitful eyes and knowledge. or her things in place of what was once there-again. at least not
In a similar vein, Wendell Berry argues that the Biblical view is that without clear evidence that this is the owner's desire.
God made all of Creation and found it good, including "the biting Although a vast improvement over the dominion (domination)
and stinging insects, poisonous serpents, weeds, poisonous weeds, view. this view does not sufficiently avoid human chauvinism and
dangerous beasts and disease-causing microorganisms." That we self-glorification. Consider the words of one representative of this
28
disapprove ofthese things doesn't mean God erred or let Satan make tradition:
some of Creation, but rather that "we are deficient in wholeness. Only humans, according to traditional Christian doctrine, have the
27
harmony. and understanding-that is, we are 'fallen'." potential to serve as the image of Cod and to exercise dominion in
These passages make it clear that not all Christians-nor all creation. Despite historical misinterpretations and abuse, these con­
interpretations of Christianity-accept the arrogant, human chauvin­ cepts recognize a basic biological fact: humans alone have evolved
istic attitude that gives humans dominion over nature. Even Lynn peculiar rational, moral and therefore, creative capacities that enable
 88 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituality 89

us alone to serve as responsible representatives of God's interests and management of nature-which is what is involved in human steward­
values, to function as protectors of the ecosphere. ship and caretaking if practiced on a planetary scale-s- diminishes the.
It is true and important that only human beings are morally value of creation. In short, nature doesn't need a steward. Human
responsible for what they do. But the suggestion that the earth needs stewardship undermines the integrity of the natural world."
humans to protect it or that humans are up to the task, once again
29 C. The New Christian Ecotheology
puts humans up on a pedestal where they do not belong.
Instead of property owners of creation, the stewardship view A third Judeo-Christian view of the human-nature relation rejects
understands humans as planetary managers. I question both humans' the property concept entirely and sees all in creation as God's
ability to manage the planet and the desirability of humans managing creatures, loved and cherished equally by God. The earth is a
it, even if we could. Altering some natural systems to achieve human "communion of subjects, rather than a collection of objects.Y' Earth
benefits is one thing-it is both possible and desirable (though too is not an object of exploitation, nor someone else's property to be
often ill conceived and a failure). But will it ever be rational for us to taken care of, but a subject to commune with. Wendell Berry's recent
assume we have sufficient scientific knowledge and wisdom to manage writings powerfully articulate this more humble view of God's
the entire planet either for our own benefit or for some supposed mtenuons
• •
lor
C
t he h ire'
urnan-nature auons hilp. 35
~ .
benefit of nature? In "Christianity and the Survival of Creation," Berry is extremely
Even if we one day achieve knowledge sufficient to manage the critical of much contemporary Christianity. He claims Christianity
planet for certain ends, the question remains whether we should "stands by while a predatory economy ravages the world," destroying
manage the planet. If the goal of management were for nature's its natural beauty and health and plundering its human communities
benefit, then the presupposition is that humans can improve upon and households in the process. He thus sees conte~porary
nature in nature's own terms. This type of stewardship suggests that Christianity as conspiring in the industrial economy's "murder of
God has some higher purpose for the planet and we are to manage creation." But Berry insists that we must distinguish between "the
it for those goals. The supposition is that the natural world on its own behavior of Christians" andwhat he calls true "Biblical instruction."
is not good enough; it needs our help to achieve its ultimate value. On Berry's interpretation, this instruction teaches that the creation is
Except for planetary alteration necessary to meet legitimate not independent of the creator and that all creatures (not just
humans needs or to insure proper human flourishing, it significantly humans) constantly participate in the being of God. The creation, he
devalues the planet when humans manage it on a large scale, and thus says, is "God's presence in things." This, he thinks, explains "why
it is inappropriate for humans to act as stewards in this sense. What subduing the things of nature to human purposes is so dangerous and
kinds oflarge scale management activities might we engage in to im­ why it so often results in evil, in separation and desecration.,,36
prove upon nature? Should we feed deer in the winter because they Like Lynn White, Berry suggests that our nature and culture­
starve, and thus improve upon nature by reducing death and suf­ destroying economy could not exist without denying the spirit, truth,
fering?3l Should we fumigate a forest to kill off an insect blight to and holiness of nonhuman creation. Berry identifies a host of sacred
improve the health of the forest for the forest's own sake? Shall we versus profane dualisms that he thinks are responsible for our
prevent extinctions in order to correct nature's mistakes or, even mistreatment of the earth. By restricting preciousness to one side of
better, recreate ancient extinct species (if we could)? the dualism, the other, secular side is devalued and thus open for
While it may be that certain human interventions in nature may reckless exploitation. These dualisms include: spirit/nature, soul/body,
properly be characterized as enhancing nature's value, large-scale human/nonhuman, church/life outside of church, worship/work, and
human management schemes significantly undermine nature's religion/economy. Berry's ecotheology rejects these dualisms. Nature
integrity. Rather than improve upon nature, they devalue nature and has spiritual value; the body is not lowly and despicable; nonhumans
32 are precious as are humans; and ordinary life and work should be
fail to show proper respect for the natural world. Thus human
90 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituality 91

treated as having religious dimensions. The Bible, he says, is should not. There would be a great loss, for example, if the seasons
unequivocal about the sanctity and holiness of the world: We are holy and timing and ferocity of thunderstorms were determined by the
creatures-all of us-in a holy world. Natural Weather Service.
From this perspective, our destruction of nature is not just the These emotions, perceptions, lessons, and interpretations, I
shirking of our responsibilities to fellow humans, not just bad suggest, are appropriate when applied more generally to the earth
stewardship, but a blasphemy against God. We are throwing God's and its life processes. This earth is an awesome, magnificent, and
gifts back in God's face. We are su~gesting that our creations, human wonderful place that should elicit our love, our thanks, our support,
artifacts, are preferable to God's creation. and our humility. We should cherish the earth, and have reverence
Berry's Christian ecotheology, with its understanding of the earth for life on it.
and humans' place on it, is as powerful a religious grounding of In addition to these common, quasi-religious human experiences
ecological concern as one could desire. It is also an ecologically of nature, reflection on some simple facts of natural history and
informed religious worldview. I use many of Berry's ideas in the anthropology helps to support this ecospirituality. The earth is our
ecospirituality I am defending. We shall have to see to what extent I creator: it brought us and all other life forms into existence." The
can successfully cut these ideas from their dependence on the earth's life processes-evolution, speciation, natural selection-are
supposition that a transcendent creator intends that we take the earth causally responsible for who we are. Humans are "earthlings." What
in these ways. kinds of beings we are have been totally shaped by this earth. Gary
Snyder puts this point eloquently: 39 , .

IV. Ecospirituality
BUl how could we be were it not for this planet that provided our very
My sense that the earth is a holy place has come from experiences shape? Two conditions-s-graviry and a livable temperature range
I have had in nature, often while running, skiing, or hiking. More between freezing and boiling-have given us fluids and flesh. The
recently, some of the same emotions, feelings, and interpretations trees we climb and the ground we walk on have given us five fingers
have come from more passive nature encounters, such as a watching and toes, The "place" (from the root plat, broad, spreading, flat) gave
us far-seeing eyes, the streams and breezes gave us versatile tongues
a cardinal, evenings sitting on the sea shore as the light fades, or
and whorly ears. The land gave us a stride, and the lake a dive. The
noticing the first flowers to emergein the spring. I did not at first amazement gave us our kind of mind.
identify these experiences as religious, but I now think they are
properly so interpreted. Climbing to the top ofa mountain I am stuck So another reason to revere the earth is that it brought us into
with awe at the magnificence of the panorama before me: Layers after existence and shaped us into the kind of creatures we are. Further,
layers of mountain ranges as far as the eye can see fill me with this is not a case of wrongful life, of a bringing into existence of
wonder. Nature at these moments is majestic. My response is to love something that would have been better off not existing: human life­
this earth intensely, to be tremendously thankful for it's existence (and as all life-s-is deeply a good thing. Thus, the earth warrants a pro­
37
my own), and to commit myself to defending and fighting for it. found parental respect and honor. Profound because this parent is
Many other-if not most-humans have similar responses to four and one-halfbillion years old and has begot not just you and me
nature in its many forms. Natural events-say a magnificent or our kind, but every kind of being on the planet. The earth has a
thunderstorm-make us feel small: they help us overcome our justified claim to deference, inviolable respect, and ceremonial
tendency to take ourselves, our lives, and what humans do generally acknowledgment, if anything does. It produced us and continues to
so seriously. They can engender humility and can undercut human be our home.
arrogance and hubris. The change ofseasons-say the first frost-can Additionally, if miracles are taken as signs ofthe presence of the
teach us that humans aren't always in control and that we shouldn't holy, the earth provides ample evidence. Both Holmes Rolston and
want to be. Even if we could dominate the weather, for example, we Wendell Berry make the point that the miraculousness of the earth
 92 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituality 93

itself exceeds that of more frequently mentioned miracles. The story undermined. Wendell Berry strikes a similar theme when he says, "If
of the development of the earth and life on it-told in the opening we think of ourselves as merely biological creatures, whose story is
pages of this essay-is a story fur more marvelous and spectacular, far determined by genetics or environment or history or economics or
more deserving of praise and wonder, far more of an account of a technology, then however pleasant or painful the part we play, it
holy event than are stories such as Jesus walking on water. If the cannot matter much. Its significance is that of mere self-concern.,,42
parting of the seas is a miracle that should elicit religious response, I think a case can be made that at least some of these quasi­
what about the. existence of the seas in the first place? We are so religious attitudes are perfectly legitimate without assuming conscious
familiar with and used to the miracles of nature around us that we purpose is part of the earth's story. I am most confident in my
often do not reflect on them with the amazement and wonder they response to Daly. Of course one can love an accident: Is Daly
deserve. Wendell Berry makes this case powerfully.t" suggesting that one can't love an unplanned child, but only one
intentionally conceived? That this beautiful blue earth was unplanned
Outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that
the miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of and an accident in the sense that it was not created by an intelligent
existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the designer does not seem to me to lessen our ability to love it or our
lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improb­ duty to defend it.
ability of their existence in this wann world within the cold and empty The accidental nature of a thing may actually allow us to love and
stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into cherish it all the more. The earth is a more miraculous and incredible
wine-which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater event if it exists without conscious design than if it is the product of an
and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is
all perfect and powerful being from whom one would expect at least
turned into grapes.
this much (and probably more).43 The idea that God planned and de­
The existence of the earth teeming with life in an otherwise lifeless (as signed the earth makes the process more familiar, less spectacular and
far as we know) universe is an extraordinary and outstanding event. awe inspiring.
The earth stands out in the universe. It is a miraculous event. To be sure, love and thankfulness when directed at beings who
cannot be aware of these attitudes are different than are love and
A. Are True Religious Attitudes Only Properly Directed at thankfulness directed at a person. In the latter case, one expects some
an Intentional Agent? kind of response; one expects that these attitudes will make a
difference to their object. The earth will not respond to our loving it
Now one might object to this ecospirituality on the grounds that
and being thankful for it.·Nonetheless, these are appropriate attitudes
its quasi-religious attitudes toward the earth, in so far as they have any
and they make a difference in our lives, in how we respond to and
bite, implicitly assume an intentional agent or conscious creator who
treat the earth. The dead are sometimes the object of our love and
is responsible for creation. Talk of the earth as our creator or of being
thanks, and yet we have no expectation of this having an affect on
thankful to the earth treats the earth-or something that stands
them. I see no reason to think that such love or thankfulness is inap­
behind the earth-as a conscious intentional being. If the earth is a
propriate and it clearly is meaningful, important, and motivational in
miracle, who performed the miracle, one might ask? Or as a friend of
our lives. That the earth and its life processes aren't intentional
mine has suggested: "One can't adore, reverence, or worship some­
agents, lovingly disposed toward us, doesn't make it impossible to
thing that is not kindly or lovingly disposed towards us."
love, cherish, and reverence that which has made us and in which we
This view is widely shared. Herman Daly asks, "Is it possible, really,
literally "live, move, and have our being."
to love an accident?,,41 Daly is suggesting that if the scientific account
of the origin of the earth and its life forms gives the full causal story
and that if we don't assume purpose or final causation underlies this
account, then we cannot love the earth and thus conservation is
94 Dialogue & Alliance
Hettinger: Ecospirituality 95

B. Ecospirituality and Environmental Concern a place on the earth, even a significant one. It acknowledges that
The ecospirituality suggested here involves a dramatically altered humans must alter the earth and understands that we must kill to
way of understanding and relating to this world. This earth is our survive. Exactly what such a reverence for earth would see as ap­
home and our creator. It continues to provide for us the sustenance propriate human activity on the planet remains to be specified. But
of our existence. It ties us to other forms of life and individuals by it would certainly {nvolve living more softly, sharing the planet more
bonds of kinship: all of us are offspring of the same earth parent. The fairly with other creatures, making amends for our past indulgences,
mountains, the seas, the endless prairie, the grasslands, the wetlands, and taking from the planet sparingly, humbly, and thankfully. Let me
the deserts and rainforests are all infinitely precious, both manifesting close with the words, once again, of Wendell Berry:46
and partially constituting a proper object of religious concern. To live we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation.
From this perspective, current human practices toward nature are When we do this lovingly, knowingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a
a sacrilege-a gross irreverence toward this hallowed place. These sacrament. When we do it greedily, clumsily, ignorantly, destructively,
practices degrade what is of ultimate value and meaning. We rape the it is a desecration. By such desecration we condemn ourselves to
land, forcing it to yield to our sick and trivial desires. We strip mine spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.
entire landscapes in order to overconsume while we throwaway huge
amounts of the products of this extraction." We drive solo in gas­
guzzling, polluting, internal-combustion machines and live in myriad
NOTES
other energy-inefficient ways, thereby condoning the damming of
65,000 U.S. waterways and the spilling of millions of gallons of oil I. It is fitting that a paper on religion and the environment starts with a scientific
each year. Our meat-eating predilections are an incredibly inefficient description. Religion must-if it is to have any respectability-fit with our best
scientific account of the nature of reality. Religion spent too long combating
and destructive way oftaking our nourishment from the earth. scienceand that has been part of its demise in some quarters. As this paper hopes
Allowing our population to continue to grow exponentially, driving to show, science properly conceived can be a friend of religion, again, properly
our kin out of existence, usurping a third of the planet's food conceived. For a powerful merging of scienceand spirituality, see Holmes Rolston,
resources for ourselves, and reshaping the planet in the massive earth­ "Secular Scientific Spirituality," in Peter H. Van Ness, ed., Spirituality and the
Secular Quest (New York: Crossroad/Continuum, Crossroad Publishing Co.,
moving ways we do, suggests that we think it is not only permissible forthcoming).
to turn the earth into ourselves and our projects, but that this 2. See Steven Weinberg, "Life in the Universe," Scienti[u: American (October 1994),
enhances its value. Ecospirituality sees this massive humanization of p.24.
earth-and humans' sanguine attitude toward it-as self-idolatry. We 3. James E. Peebles, et al., "The Evolution of the Universe," Scientific American
(October 1994), p. 53.
are worshiping ourselves by worshiping the results of human activity. 4. Claude J. Allegre and Stephen H. Schneider, "The Evolution of the Earth,"
Our ultimate concern is to domesticate, tame, manipulate and manage ScientifU: American (October 1994), p. 67.
landscapes, ecosystems, and nonhuman organisms and processes. 5. The oldest evidence of life is of blue/green algae, some 3.5 billion years ago.
This is a hubris that is blind to the holiness of that which it seeks 6. Stephen Jay Gould, "The Evolution of Life on the Earth," Scientific American
(October 1994), p. 89.
to replace. Worse, it is a hubris that is in a certain way self-justifying 7. Kevin Timoney, "On Being Natural," The Trumpeter 10,1 (Winter 1993), p. 21.
and makes the possibility of ecospirituality all the more difficult. The 8. Allegre and Schneider, "Evolution ofthe Earth," P: 74.
more we tame, manipulate, dominate, and control the planet, the 9. See William K. Stevens,"Species Loss: Crisis or False Alarm>," NewYork Times, 20
harder it is for we humans to feel small in creation and to be awed by August 1991, p. C8.
10. See Edward O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press
its powers. Humility in the face of a nonhuman order that made us of Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 280, and Paul R. Ehrlich and Edward O.
becomes less and less of a possibility.Y Wilson, "Biodiversity Studies: Science and Policy," Science 253 (16 August 1991),
While ecospirituality condemns the scale of human activity on the p.760.
planet, as well as its methods and motives, it grants that humans have II. Wilson, ibid., p. 280. There have been approximately a dozen mass extinctions
 96 Dialogue & Alliance Hettinger: Ecospirituality 97

chronicled in the fossil record. See Neil Campbell, Biology, 2nd ed. (Redwood City, Again: People and Nature in the New Millennium (New York: Oxford University
CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, 1990), p. 500. It typically has Press, 1993), pp. 114-123.
taken between 2 and 10 million years for the earth to rebuild its former diversity 24. White, "Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," pp. 1206, 1205.
after major catastrophic extinctions. Homo sapiens are only about 250 thousand 25. Ibid., p. 1205.
years old. For discussion, see Steven Jay Gould, "The Golden Rule-A Proper 26. Edwin Way Teale, ed., The Wilderness World of John Muir (Cambridge, MA:
Scale for our Environmental Crisis," NaJural History (September 1990), pp. 24-30. Riverside Press, 1954), p. 316-17.
12. See Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, Healing the Planet (Reading, MA: 27. Wendell Berry, "Christianity and the Survival of Creation," in Sex, Economy,
Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1991), p. 34. See also Wilson, The Diversity of Life, p. Freedom and Community (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992), p. 97.
272. Humans appropriate this photosynthetic energy that powers virtually all 28. James A Nash, Loving Nalure: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility
living organisms on the planet by consuming plants directly or through animal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991), p. 149.
intermediaries, by reducing it as with the clearing of tropical forests for pasture 29. For the point that the earth does not need us and would do much better without
lands, or destroying it as with parking lots and shopping malls. us, see Paul Taylor, Respect for Nature (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
13. "Plate tectonic forces lift about 14 billion tons of rock per annum...volcanic 1986), pp. 114-15. For the point that humans couldn't end life on earth even if
activity in the oceans creates about 30 billion tons...Glaciers around the world they wanted to, see StevenJay Gould, "The Golden Rule-A Proper Scale for Our
transport 4.3 billion tons of sediment. ..rivers annually transport 14 billion tons Environmental Crisis," Natural History (September, 1990), pp. 24-30.
of sediment to lakes or oceans." Meandering waterways move 40 billion tons short 30. Aldo Leopold, for one, is skeptical about the possibility of such knowledge. "In
distances. See Richard Monastersky, "Earthmovers: Humans take their place human history, we have learned (I hope) that the conqueror role is eventually self­
alongside wind, water, and ice," Science News 146 (December 24 & 31,1994), p. defeating. Why? Because it is implicit in such a role that the conqueror knows, ex
432. cathedra, just what makes the community clock tick, and just what and who is
:t. 14. Lester Brown, et ol., SIokof the World, 1994 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, valuable, and what and who is worthless, in community life. It always turns out
1994), p. 7. that he knows neither, and this is why hisconquests eventually defeat themselves."
15. See Donald Worster, "The Nature We Have Lost," in The Wealthof Nature (New A Sand CoutUy Almanac (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966), p. 240. Wendell Berry
York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 6. thinks that humans can understand the patterns of nature well enough to preserve
16. Lynn White, "The HistoricalRoots ofOur Ecologic Crisis," Science 155, #3767 (10 them, although not to control or completely understand them. See Berry's "The
March 1967), p. 1205. White thinks that "Since the roots of our trouble are so Gift of Good Land," in The Gift of GoodLand (San Francisco: North Point Press,
largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it 1981). Reprinted in S. Armstrong and R. Botzler, Environwntol Ethics: Divergence
that or not. We must rethink and refeel our nature and destiny," p. 1207. This and Convergence (New York McGraw-Hill, 1993), pp. 489-495.
may overstate the point, but religion is a highly important factor in the 31. I ignore complications here concerning (I) why the deer are starving (because
environmental crisis. humans eradicated their predators and usurped their land) and (2) whether in fact
17. I suspect that the view here embraced has affinities with many aspects of such practices might not actually increase suffering and death.
non-Western religions. But my ignorance prevents me from drawing these 32. I am assuming here that natural integrity depends to a large extent on its being
connections. I do know that my views have affinities with some Native American wholly other from humans. This obviously needs defense. For a partial defense,
attitudes toward nature and have been greatly informed by the writings of see Ned Hettinger and Bill Throop, "Can Ecocentric Ethics Withstand Chaos in
Wendell Berry, Holmes Rolston, and John Muir. For a fine collection of Native Ecology?" (unpublished manuscript available from the author).
American ideas about the earth, see T .C. McLuhan, Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait 33. Let us not confuse human stewardship of nature with human stewardship of our
of Indian Existence (New York: Outerbridge and Dienstfrey, 1971). own affairs. Humans taking greater care of how human society is structured and
18. A fuller treatment of ecospirituality needs as well to critique humanism and how it impacts nature is precisely what is desired.
contrast ecospirituality with it. 34. "Is God Green," Amicus (Winter 1993), pp. 20-34.
19. Ari L Goldman, "Focus of Earth Day Should Be on Man, Cardinal Cautions," New 35. See Berry's "Christianity and the Survival of Creation" and his earlier "The Gift
York Times, 23 April 1990. of Good Land." It is interesting to note that Berry has dropped the stewardship
20. Genesis 1: 20-31. language of"The Gift of the Good Land" in his more recent "Christianity and the
21. Ibid. Survival of Creation." I should mention that Berry's sense of stewardship in
22. See Ned Hettinger, "Levy on Indirect Utilitarianism and Ecocentric Environ­ "Good Land" has almost no resemblance to the stewardship model I criticize here.
mentalism," (March 1993). Available from the author. 36. "Christianity and the Survival of Creation," p. 101.
23. Shallow anthropocentrism cannot allow for protection of numerous "worthless" 37. Who am I thankful to, one might ask? The assumption behind this question is that
species. The less shallowand more enlightened an anthropocentrism is, the more thankfulness is only appropriate if directed toward an intentional agent. But I
it can provide a strong basis for environmental concern. For an argument that don't think giving thanks necessarily requires this supposition.
anthropocentric justifications for environmental concern are not sufficient to 38. There is a problem concerning whether it is the earth or more broadly the
preserve biodiversity, see David Ehrenfeld, "Hard Times for Diversity," Beginning universe that should be understood as that from which we came. More generally.
98 Dialogue & AJJiance

I need to explain why I think it is the earth that is a holy place, rather than the
entire cosmos.
39. Gary Snyder, Practice of the Wild (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990), pp.
Eschatology and Ecology: The
28-29.
40. Berry, "Christianity and the Survival of Creation," P: 103. Environment in the End-Times
41. Herman Daly, "Beginning Again on Purpose," ConservationBiology 7 (3), p. 737.
A review of David Ehrenfeld's Beginning Again: People and Nature in the New
Millennium, 1993.
42. "Christianity and the Survival of Creation," p. 109. by Peter C Phan
43. Here I allude to the problem of evil. If an all-perfect and powerful God designed
the earth, then the suffering and death all around us can serve to diminish our
religious appreciation ofwhat was done. No such moral qualms make sense if the T WAS ONCE FASHIONABLE, especially in the wake of Lynn
earth arose on its own.
44. One figure I've heard is that in the United States we generate 25 tons of waste per
person per year.
45. The analogy ofa grown-up child confronting an aging and relatively feeble parent
9 White's famous essay, "The Historical Roots of our Ecological
Crisis;" to charge the Judeo-Christian tradition with having
given rise to the ecological crisis. Christianity, it is argued, contributed
is both apt and illusory. For in all likelihood the earth will outlive us by many to the destruction of the environment, especially through its
orders of magnitude and children's growing power and control don't typically
arise at the direct expense of their parents' impoverishment.
injunction to dominate nature in order to satisfy the needs of
46. "The Gift of Good Land," p. 495. humanity.
A number of recent studies, however, have shown that such an
accusation rests upon an unwarranted oversimplification of historical
data. Among other things, it has been pointed out that the role of
Christianity in the environmental crisis cannot properly be evaluated
apart from other Western cultural movements such as the
Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Scientific
Revolution. It has been noted, too, that other religious traditions,
allegedly attuned to nature, have also assailed the environment. And,
lastly, it has been shown that the Christian theological tradition itself
contains powerful motifs that, if retrieved and developed, would
2
contribute to a responsible care-for-creation ethics.
One of the basic articles of the Judeo-Christian faith is the belief
that the course of history is not cyclical, bound up in an eternal
meaningless return of all things to their former state. On the con­
trary, history is oriented toward a divinely appointed goal, and is
therefore constituted not by a meaningless repetition of events but by
a beginning and an end, a past and a future, the present being the
time in which the divine plan is providentially enacted by humans
with their free choices. The beginning is described in terms of God's
creative act, and the end as the fulfillment of God's plan, the symbol
of which is the kingdom of God.
In formulating the doctrine of the end of time and eternal life
(eschatology) Christian theologians have privileged the place of
,
I
EDITOR-IN·CHIEF
.G Dialogue &' Alliance is published twice
a year by the International Religious
Foundation. Its purpose is to facilitate
~ialogue and alliance among the reli­
gious traditions of the world as a
means of promoting peace.
Contents
Editorial Policy
Material to be submitted should be
original, previously unpublished, dou­
ble-spaced with pages numbered con­ INTRODUCTION
secutively. Notes for articles and book Thomas G. Walsh 1
reviews should be placed at the end
of the text and include author, title, TAOISM AND ECOLOGY
publisher, year and place of publica­ Ellen M. Chen 5
tion and page numbers. Two legible
copies of all contributions should be
.
ECOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF NATIVE NORTH
sent, with a short vita indicating train­
ing, positions and publications.
AMERICAN RELIGIONS
JohnA. Grim , 16
Address: Editor
Dialogue & Alliance
c/o IRF, 4 West 43rd 5t. AN INDIAN APPROACH TO THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS
New York, NY 10036 Thomas Manninezhath 27

Subscriptions and Back Issues THE 'NATURE' OF RELIGION: REFLECTIONS ON

North and Central America: $10; NATURE AND RELIGION
Libraries, Institutions: $15; Francis X D'Sa 34
AIl other countries: $20.
Available back issues may be ordered THE MODERN MYTH OF MASTERY AND THE
for $7.50 each.
CHRISTIAN DOCfRINE OF CREATION: A JOURNEY IN
I5SN 0891.5881
ECOLOGY AND CREATION THEOLOGY
© 1995 International Religious M Darrol Bryant 56
Foundation (IRF). All rights res!rved.
No part of this publication may be
THE SPIRITUALITY OF MATIER: RELIGION AND
reproduced without the written per.
ENVIRONMENT IN YORUBA TRADITION, NIGERIA
mission from the publisher. IRF bears JacobK. Olupona , 69
no responsibility for the editorial con­
tent; the views expressed are those of
the individual authors. ECOSPIRITUALITY: FIRST THOUGHTS
Ned Hettinger 81

" .1' , ~