Hendrik Viviers

“ Earth is a fragile web of interconnected and interdependent forces and domains of existence; Earth is a living community in which humans and all other organisms are kin, who live and move and have their common destiny. ”

“ The golden thread that binds them all is Francis’ deeply felt intuition and conviction of our cosmic kinship, namely ‘... that all living things are brothers and sisters because they have the same genetic code’ (Boff 1997:211) . The latter, including the evolution of earth into a living habitat (Habel’s first tenet of ecological consciousness above) , was obviously not known to him as a child of his premodern time, but his intuition of the bond between everything was remarkably confirmed later by empirical science. ”

“ On the notion of interconnectedness or kin, we as humans are so part and parcel of the earth, so ‘made’ of earth, that we ingest, incorporate and excrete the earth (Habel 2009:44, following Macy & Seed) . In his own words, Habel (2011:10) recaps succinctly: ‘... we are born of Earth, and we are living expressions of the ecosystem that has emerged on this planet’ (see also Habel 2008:5; Viviers 2013) . With this ecological worldview internalised, we should listen to and identify with the earth in the text as a subject, as a character in her own right. ”

“ Francis (and Jesus) can offer alternative attitudes to a crude anthropocentrism today, namely a deep reverence, kinship, compassion and affection for the cosmic and planetary community (Boff 1997:203) . Francis markedly emphasised ‘... the rights of the heart, the centrality of feeling ...’ (Boff 1997:208) . Emotions precede actions, they trigger what we do (De Waal 2006:18) , and therefore the compassion and empathy that these icons of the past had for nature [18] should become our own and inspire and energise our green acts (Sorrell 1988:128) . ”

“ The immanent, earth-bound Jesus is a ‘greener’ Jesus than the one distancing himself from earth. Although to converse meaningfully on matters ecological with inter alia secular science does not seem to be his primary aim (at least with this book) , his deliberate new emphasis of the Jesus story allows some direction in this regard. When he says that ‘heavenism’ and unnatural ecosystems are out (Habel 2009:34, 100–104) , being part of ancient idealised versions of a new world to come, science should agree. ”

“ When Israel lost their land during the exile, a new promised land is depicted, a return to Eden where miraculously even the deserts will overflow with water (Is 43:19–21) , the wolf and the lamb will feed together (Is 65:25) and the normal river ecosystems of earth is turned upside down in their abundance (Ezk 47) . Habel (2009) lets the earth protest to these unnatural ecosystems:
Why does God suggest a future where the new Promised Land is itself alien to the very creation God has celebrated in the past? ”

“ Brother Wind determines the weather and Sister Water gives sustenance to life. Brother Fire is praised for its heat at night, and Sister Mother Earth produces and sustains fruit, plants and herbs that we need to live from. Even forgiving humans are praised. ”

“ Why should the creatures I brought to life be treated as the slaves of human beings? [2] (p. 68)
Habel then presents an alternative humans-to-serve-text, Genesis 2:15: ‘Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to serve and preserve it.’ This is an alternative way of life, even an alternative God speaking here, not to be ‘harmonised’ with Genesis 1:26–28. Finally, Habel (2009:74–77) emphasises the way of Jesus, of serving rather than dominating (Mk 10:42–45) . This is choosing the green rather than the grey way of life. ”

“ Francis, similar to Jesus, as children of their time can obviously not offer scientific insights as to ‘how’ ecosystems work, but they can change attitudes towards the environment and offer meaning-seeking answers as to the ‘why’ of an environment at all. ”

“ The point of ‘harmony’ behind this utopia needs to be scientifically substantiated by what science knows (and increasingly researches to know) of ‘how’ ecosystems work. Christianity (with other religious traditions) can and need to become partners with natural scientists in saving the planet. Attitudes and knowledge need to complement each other towards a sustainable ‘green’ world. ”

“ The moment humans appear on the earthly scene, the beautiful harmony of the first part of the creation story is disrupted (Habel 2008:8) . Humans, created in the image of God, act as his ‘clones’ (Habel 2009:4, following Sibley Towner) to have dominion over everything. Page 3 of 9
Furthermore, this ‘grey’ mandate is reinforced later on (Gn 9:2) and celebrated (Ps 8) . Not identifying ipso facto with the human characters but having empathy with earth as a character, Habel (ibid) indicates imaginatively what her ‘voice’ might sound like:
Where is the justice in such a mandate? ”

“ He instead pleads for the retrieval of the ecological good news of the ‘green texts’ of the Bible to supersede the ecological devastating news of the grey ones.
However, it is first necessary to undergo an ecological conversion as Pope John Paul II pleaded for at the beginning of the new millennium (Habel 2009:38) . To develop a new ecological worldview would be similar to the earlier Copernican revolution. Habel (ibid) verbalises the basic tenets of such a worldview as follows:
Earth is a living planet that originated in cosmic space and evolved into a living habitat ”

“ Theology can provide the ethics and science the agenda for such a better world. The thaumaturgical or miraculous (but unnatural) ‘lamb and wolf’ lying together will, other than in pre-modern times, not be attentiongrabbing in our scientifically informed age but rather a natural Eden as it has evolved over millions of years where lamb and wolf and human have sustainable living habitats (‘heavens’) where they can thrive and die as nature intended it to be.
The Second Christ, Saint Francis of Assisi and ecological consciousness
Who was Francis? ”

“ Moving on to mammals, it brings us to the anecdote of the Temptation by Mice. One of the severe criticisms against the ascetics of the middle ages was their negative view of nature, namely that it often harboured demons in its beauty to trap naïve humans. Despite Francis being an exception to this, he, as a child of his time, could not escape this conviction. ”

“ It respects the interconnectedness or interdependence of human and non-human life, including the non-organic, empirically substantiated by natural science. This shared realisation allows for a fruitful inter-disciplinary discourse with science to address the global ecological crisis.
Introduction
Stories are part and parcel of being human. Somewhere in our evolutionary history, we have developed narrative minds. Narrative appeals to us effortlessly whilst doing something like mathematics or physics requires hard and often tiresome effort. ”

“ Hs 4:1–3) on the way to Jesus, Habel (2009:90) finds Jesus’ healing acts especially ecologically meaningful (e.g. Lk 5:17– 26) [4] in so far as they demonstrate Jesus’ ‘intimate interaction with the human body’ with a spiritual dimension obviously also implied. Added to this is the act of God becoming flesh through Jesus (Jn 1:14) – ‘God became a piece of Earth – like Adam’ (Habel 2009:94) . God joins the web of creation, identifies with and permeates creation (Habel ibid:94) . By associating God so closely with nature, it begets (ultimate) intrinsic worth! ”

“ During these retreats, he became convinced that he should follow Christ, the Poor Man par excellence (Boff 1997:207) who emptied himself completely for others in obedience to his Father. His option for the lifestyle of the poor, pledging to marry ‘Lady Poverty’ (Boff 1997:207) and becoming a fool in the eyes of his former rich fellows and family, was immediately set into action. [9] The Poverello (the little poor man) , as his admirers fondly referred to him, began to repair small and poor churches and chapels on the margins of Assisi, promoting and embodying his new commitment to poverty. ”

“ People knew he was the right person to whom to bring an injured or distressed animal. The medieval conviction that true saints have power over animals is also illustrated by Bonaventura’s tale of the deer in the woods crossing Francis’ path. ”

“ He finds Romans 8:18–27 a powerful green text where, whilst creation continues, it groans together with humanity and the suffering Spirit, anticipating healing from all the wrongs done to it (Habel 2009:111) . [6] The cosmic Christ’s suffering, reconciliation and healing effects all of creation (ta panta) , not only humans (Col 2:20) , and shows God ‘... at one with creation’ (ibid:113) . Habel (ibid) summarises:
The green texts identified above have tended to locate God in, with and under creation ”