Ellen Davis, an Episcopal theologian at Duke Divinity School, is among the leaders of a group of scholars developing a Biblically based understanding of what it means to care for God’s creation. Religion News Service has taken note:
Th[e] point – that the Bible does not separate human life from nonhuman life and that God cares for all creation – is consistent throughout her writings.
But neither does Davis shirk from the one passage that has embittered so many environmental activists – God’s command to humankind in Genesis 1:28 to “subdue” the Earth and have “dominion” over its creatures.
“The notion that the God who created heaven and earth does not care that we do damage to the heavens and the earth is completely incoherent,” said Davis, an Episcopalian. “We are answerable to God for how we use the physical order to meet our physical needs.”
Find out more about Davis’ groundbreaking book Scripture, Culture and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible.