Mark Goodacre is an English New Testament scholar currently teaching at Duke University in the US and his NT Blog and his companion sites NT Pod and NT Gateway are all very worth a visit.

Mark  has pointed out on his blog that it is now possible to watch the entire PBS series From Jesus to Christ on line. Mark says about the series:

Back in 1998, there was a lot of talk among American e-listers about the PBS series From Jesus to Christ, a four-part exploration of the origins of Christianity that was generally thought to be a well produced documentary. The programme made a bit of an impact overseas too, partly because of a fantastic website and partly because it was repackaged and sold abroad. In the UK, we had it on Channel 5, with Terry Waite providing extra linking materials. I have always been a fan of the website, and I continue to recommend parts of it to my students to this day.

The blurb about the series says: “From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians” tells the epic story of the rise of Christianity. The four hours explore the life and death of Jesus, and the men and women whose belief, conviction, and martyrdom created the religion we now know as Christianity. Well-known scholars discuss Christian origins and there are visuals of the areas in which the events took place. As well as looking at orthodox Christianity, it also explores the origins of other strands. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi documents is dealt with in Part Two, Chapter 7, Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries.  Mark also links to a Youtube clip of somewhat dodgy quality that talks about the discovery of the Nag Hammadi documents with footage of the Egyptian farmer who made the discovery and several of the important early scholars of the Nag Hammadi texts - James Robinson, Gilles Quispel and Elaine Pagels.

NT Blog contains posts about issues that Mark finds interesting, so some of them are probably of limited interest to those who are not engaged in the academic study of New Testament/Christian origins. I read it regularly, though.

NT Pod contains podcasts (not surprisingly) that Mark describes as “ Condensed comment from an academic perspective for everyone interested in historical approaches to the New Testament.” They don’t require an academic background but they do give you an understanding of what academic scholars think and know about the New Testament.

NT Gateway is “an award winning web directory of internet resources on the New Testament.” It enables you to both browse and search annotated links on “everything connected with the academic study of the New Testament and Christian Origins.”

Creation’s house rules: take only your share; clean up after yourself; and keep the house in good repair for others. Sallie McFague, “Intimate Creation” (see below)

This post provides background and extended reading for the presentation that I did at the 2009 Armidale Sustainable Living Expo. There are also links to useful webpages.  I decided that this would be a better way of doing things than printing out pieces of paper which might or might not be used.

If you have not done any reading in this area before, I would suggest that Barry Leal’s book the Environment and Christian Faith is a good place to start.  It’s part of  the St Paul’s Press “Windows Into…” series and doesn’t assume particular familiarity with either the field or theological language.  Then try Sallie McFague’s “Intimate Creation”, which provides a good, short overview of the various models of God that have been prevalent in Christianity and the problems they cause for human relationships with the world we live in.

• Birch, Charles. 1993. Regaining compassion for humanity and nature. Kensington, NSW, Australia: New South Wales University Press. Birch is a former Challis Professor of Biology at the University of Sydney, now an internationally recognised process theologian.
• Carmody, John. 1983. Ecology and religion: toward a new Christian theology of nature. New York: Paulist Press.
• Church of England. 1986. Our responsibility for the living environment: a report of the General Synod Board for Social Responsibility GS718. London: Church House.
• Edwards, Denis, and Mark William Worthing (eds). 2004. Biodiversity & ecology: an interdisciplinary challenge. Interface (Adelaide, Australia), v.7 no.1. Adelaide, Australia: Australian Theological Forum Press. - Australian editors with international range of contributors
• Galvin, Ray. 1993. Christ and the good earth: an introduction to ecological theology. Red Beach, Orewa, New Zealand: Colcom Press. - A New Zealand author.
• Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley. 1984. A worldly spirituality: the call to redeem life on earth. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
• Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley. 1987. Tending the garden: essays on the Gospel and the earth. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.
• Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley. 1988. Ecology and life: accepting our environmental responsibility. Issues of Christian conscience. Waco, Tex: Word Books.
• Habel, Norman C., and Peter L. Trudinger. 2008. Exploring ecological hermeneutics. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. Norman Habel is an Australian Lutheran biblical scholar who has worked internationally but is now resident in Adelaide.
• Habel, Norman C. 2009. An inconvenient text: is a green reading of the Bible possible? Hindmarsh, S. Aust: ATF.
• Habel, Norman C., and Peter L. Trudinger. 2009. Water: a matter of life and death. Hindmarsh, S. Aust: ATF.
• Leal, Robert Barry. 2004. The environment and Christian faith: an introduction to ecotheology. St. Paul’s windows into, 3. Strathfield, N.S.W.: St. Pauls. - a good place to start if you have never read in this area. An overview by an Australian author. The Uniting Church chaplaincy owns a copy which Armidale people or UNE students could borrow.
• Leal, Robert Barry. 2006. Through ecological eyes: reflections on Christianity’s environmental credentials. Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls. - an expansion on the previous book
• Ledger, Christine, and Stephen Pickard (eds). 2004. Creation and complexity: interdisciplinary issues in science and religion. Adelaide: ATF Pres.- again, Australian editors with international contributors.
• McFague, Sallie. 1987. Models of God: theology for an ecological, nuclear age. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Not as specifically ecotheological as The body of God but an excellent critique of traditional models of God from the perspective of a feminist with a respect for creation.
• McFague, Sallie. 1993. The body of God: an ecological theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. - ecotheology from a feminist perspective - an expansion on  Models of God
• McFague, Sallie. 2001. Life abundant : rethinking theology and economy for a planet in peril. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• McFague, Sallie. 2002. “FEATURES - Intimate creation - God’s body, our home”. The Christian Century. 119 (6): 36. - looks at different models of God and why they are problematic for sustainability, then outlines one in which the creation is seen as God’s body. This is available electronically through the UNE library if you are a student or member of staff.
• Santmire, H. Paul. 1985. The travail of nature: the ambiguous ecological promise of Christian theology. Theology and the sciences. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. - one of the classics in the field.
• Santmire, H. Paul. 2000. Nature reborn: the ecological and cosmic promise of Christian theology. Theology and the sciences. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
• Scullion, John J. et al. 1981. God’s creation and human responsibility for the earth. Melbourne: Polding Press- four Australian Jesuits present biblical, theological and ethical perspectives on the role of human beings in caring for the earth.
• White, Lynn. 1967. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”.  Science 155: 1203-1207 http://aeoe.org/resources/spiritual/rootsofcrisis.pdf - the famous article that critiques Western Christianity’s use of the environment.  It also shows that there is another strand of Christianity that could be followed.
• The Earth Bible Series - Australian scholars.
  • Habel, Norman C. 2000. Readings from the perspective of Earth. The Earth Bible, v 1. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.
  • Habel, Norman C., and Shirley Wurst. 2000. The earth story in Genesis. The earth Bible, v 2. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic.
  • Habel, Norman C., and Shirley Wurst. 2001. The Earth story in wisdom traditions. The Earth Bible, v 3. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
  • Habel, Norman C. 2001. The Earth story in the Psalms and the Prophets. The Earth Bible, v 4. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press.
  • Habel, Norman C., and Vicky Balabanski. 2002. The Earth story in the New Testament and apocalyptic. Earth Bible, v 5. London: Sheffield Academic Press.

Web resources

There are a number of places on the web where you can find extensive reading lists.  The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University has a downloadable resouce brochure and Earth Ministry also has a very, very extensive resource section. Uniting Earth Web has some more practical Australian resources.  The Uniting Church in Western Australia’s Green Church website and Maroubra Junction Uniting Church’s Project Green Church webpages provide more Australian and practical resources. The World Council of churches also has some useful and interesting resources.  Go to their website and search for “ecology” and “ecological” and/or scan down the list of news items for their most recent statements and most recent news of their projects.

I have just finished reading the book How Did Christainity begin? A believer and non-believer examine the evidence by Michael F Bird and James G Crossley (with contributions from Scot McKinght and Maurice Casey).  I’ve done a reasonably comprehensive review of it on my personal blog, so don’t see any point in replicating it here. However, as the title suggests, it presents evidence of how Christianity came into being from the perspective of a Christian evangelical biblical scholar (Bird) and a secular biblical scholar (Crossley).  As well as providing their own statements, they engage with the other’s in a very helpful way.

I am not sure how the average “person in the pew” or “person on the street” would cope with the level of technicality of some of the argument, but it’s certainly something I’d recommend to anyone asking thoughtful questions about how to understand the origins of Christianity, and to those Christian professionals to whom they bring their questions.

Welcome to the UNE Uniting Church Chaplaincy blog for 2008. If this is your first year at UNE, welcome especially.

This year, the blog will keep you up to date with activities on campus and in Armidale and useful justice, peach and sustainability resources. Again this year, I am encouraging people to become involved in Lent Event - the Uniting Church in NSW’s opportunity to prepare for Easter by giving up some little luxury and putting aside the money you save to help some of the world’s poorest people. We will have a bible study group operating on Tuesdays 1-2 pm in the Catholic Chaplain’s office - Old Lodge (building E21). We’re working together because we both want to look at Lent from a social justice perspective and thought it would be good to get to know others who have a slightly different Christian perspective.

I can also provide Lent Event brochures and study material for anyone who wants to work through it by themselves. Email me at jredman at une dot edu dot au. You can also join the email list une_lentevent through the web or by sending an email to  une_lentevent-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hope the new academic year is a good one for you.

Soundings

A forum for analysis and debate on issues of religion, ethics and public policy in Australia and internationally

No. 61 : 30 August 2007

A biblical foundation for climate change action

by John McKinnon

Was it Al Gore’s film? Was it the drought? Whatever the catalyst, climate change is now headline news every day. Is it just a distraction from our true mission, or is it an integral part of our Kingdom mandate?

At least in living memory, Christianity and environmentalism have not been close partners. In 1967, Professor Lynn White wrote an influential article, “The historical roots of our ecological crisis,”[1] which accused Christianity of providing the foundation for environmental exploitation and degradation by viewing creation’s purpose as simply to serve humankind.

Christianity has often viewed the material world as less valuable than the spiritual world. James Watt, US Secretary of the Interior in the Reagan government, expressed a popular belief when he wrote that the earth is “merely a temporary way station on the road to eternal life – The earth was put here by the Lord for His people to subdue and use for profitable purposes on their way to the hereafter.”[2]

The Bible presents a different story. Creation is a demonstration of the glory of God, to be cared for and nurtured. It eagerly awaits its own renewal when Christ returns. Furthermore, to love our neighbours, as Jesus commanded, surely implies that we share the world’s resources with others, both present and future. Environmentalism, therefore, goes to the heart of God’s demand for justice.

Creation

In Genesis 1 we read that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good”. Psalms 8, 19 and 104, among others, speak of God’s glory displayed by the heavens and the earth. God’s dramatic reply to Job, in Job 38-41, demonstrates emphatically how the creation reveals God’s existence, power and character. In Romans 1:20, Paul declares that this “natural revelation” so reflects God’s glory that no-one can remain ignorant of God.

Perhaps the most remarkable element of creation is the man Jesus Christ. In the incarnation, in which God assumes physical form and lives in this world, we have a remarkable validation of creation. Furthermore, the resurrection, first of Christ, and at his return, ours, in transformed physical bodies, is further validation of the physical world. According to Romans 8:20-22, when Jesus returns, all creation will be renewed.

Paul refers to this renewal in his other New Testament letters. Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:20 speak of all things being brought together and reconciled under Christ. God has not abandoned creation to decay or destruction, but through Christ has planned for its renewal. Christ’s resurrection is our assurance of this promise of renewal, what Paul called the “firstfruits”. The entire physical creation is part of God’s plan.

Christians have been called to live out the values of God’s Kingdom in this world, even though its consummation awaits Jesus’ return. This includes our treatment of his creation. In our personal holiness, our relationships, our pursuit of justice, and in our care of creation, we anticipate God’s future rule.

What about Genesis 1:28, which speaks of “subduing” and “ruling” over the Earth? Creation still belongs to God. We are never more than stewards, charged with using God’s resources to His glory and to serve others. Selfish exploitation of the creation was not God’s intention.

So creation is good, reflecting God’s glory, revealing God’s character and power, and is destined for renewal as part of God’s all-encompassing Kingdom. We serve our King and anticipate his future rule by not only caring for his creation but working towards its healing.

Justice

God reveals himself throughout the Bible as a God who “defends the cause of the fatherless and widow.” On the verge of entering the Promised Land, the people were told: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed … towards the poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Sharing the world’s resources to alleviate poverty is no optional extra, but a fundamental outworking of God’s character.

Sadly, the impact of environmental degradation falls most heavily on the poor. Living in the most vulnerable places, farming the least fertile land, occupying the most polluted land, it is the poor who suffer, often forced through their poverty to further degrade the land on which they live.

Since environmental degradation is largely the product of industrial society, the Bible does not explicitly addressed it. However, there are several elements in the Levitical law that highlight God’s intention that his people demonstrate justice by sharing, caring for and preserving natural resources.

The Sabbatical year (Leviticus 25:1-7) allowed the land itself to be rested every 7th year, rather than ruthlessly exploited for short term gain. The Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-55) takes this principle much further. The 50th year redistribution of land demonstrates that property ownership is not absolute; merely a temporary stewardship of what belongs to God. Natural resources must therefore be managed in such a way that they remain available and useful to future “stewards”.

God’s justice demands that the poor and most vulnerable be cared for; that the world’s resources are shared among all people, of this and future generations, and that we act to prevent environmental damage from further oppressing those already suffering under heavy burdens of poverty and marginalization.

Climate change

Climate change is the major environmental issue of our day. It threatens the lives of millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. They will suffer lower economic growth, direct impacts on their livelihoods and assets, decreased food and water security, increased incidence of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and increased risk of disasters.

Those of us in wealthy nations, through our continued consumption of electricity produced by fossil fuels, our polluting transportation, our continued land clearing and meat consumption, are causing this problem. As consumers, proprietors and employees, we are among the beneficiaries.

As God’s people, we are called to live the values of God’s Kingdom here and now. This involves loving our neighbours, demonstrating justice for the poor, and working for the renewal and healing of creation. Human-induced climate change represents degradation of creation and a gross injustice against the world’s poor. Climate change is therefore our responsibility, and tackling it is part of our God given mission.

What has climate change got to do with Christians? Everything! It is our problem and we are called to be part of the solution. We must examine our own lives as well as speaking up on behalf of those most affected, but with the least voice. As Isaiah urged his people, so his words challenge us to action:

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow (Isaiah 1:17).

Mr John McKinnon is the NSW State Co-ordinator for Tear Australia. This article first appeared in TEAR’s Target magazine, August 2007.

References:

1. Lynn White, Jr., “The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis,” Science 155, 1967, pp. 1203-1207.

2. James Watt, “Ours is the Earth,” Saturday Evening Post, January/February 1982, pp. 74-75.

Soundings is a publication of the Centre for Christian Ethics, edited by Rod Benson. Soundings welcomes submissions of up to 1200 words that contribute to analysis and debate on issues of religion, ethics and public policy in Australia and internationally. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, Soundings, and the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, Sydney Australia. Views expressed in Soundings articles are not necessarily those of the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College or the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT. For general enquiries, comments and submissions, contact ethics@morling.edu.au To subscribe, email ethics@morling.edu.au with “subscribe to Soundings” in the subject line. To unsubscribe, type “unsubscribe to Soundings”.

There is a very active community of people who are involved in discussing biblical scholarship on line. Some of these people are professional academic biblical and religious scholars and/or theologians, while others are students and ministers/pastors. They come from a wide cross-section of theological positions and usually offer informed comment on a range of interesting things. If you are interested in finding out more, I would suggest that you start at biblioblogs, a blogsite which provides “an aggregate of blogs geared towards biblical studies” and explore the links.

Some of the blogs are very serious and focussed only on the research of the blogger, while others are more wide-ranging and include more personal reflection and humour as well. Probably the most popular New Testament site is Mark Goodacre’s NT Gateway Weblog. Mark is an Englishman who is currently teaching at Duke University in the US and a very active blogger. If you are interested in non-canonical early Christian writings, you might like April DeConick’s The Forbidden Gospels Blog. I have also been blogging about my research on the Gospel of Thomas at Judy’s research blog.

Once you’ve found blogs that interest you, you can subscribe to them using a feedreader service and then you’ll be notified whenever a new post appears. UNE has a feedreader for Windows computers that can be downloaded from here but I didn’t find it particularly good to use and I now subscribe to all my feeds using Bloglines.

The Armidale Uniting Church congregation’s Lent Event package arrived on Friday and we have discovered that in addition to the brochure with the giving tracking calendar and the Bible Study resources, there are also cardboard money boxes. You assemble these yourself so that you have somewhere to put the money you save each day. Or if you really can’t bear giving something up, you might like to put small change in it each day.

Contact Judy Redman for a copy of the information brochure and tracking calendar, a money boox, a copy of the Bible Study notes or to book into a Bible Study group. Or you can sign up on line

What is Lent Event?

The idea is simple. During Lent we give up a luxury or two and donate the money saved to projects that offer a better future to some of the world’s neediest people, through the Uniting Church’s Overseas Aid department. It’s also an opportunity to be involved in Bible Studies that encourage us to examine our lifestyles in the light of the Gospel. You can do either or both.

Lent Event was the inspiration of Sarah White of West Epping Uniting Church in Sydney. Sarah felt God calling her to respond to extreme hardship faced by families, particularly children, in the Third World. With a team of supporters, Sarah has developed the concept so that it can be shared by any community that wishes to be involved.

When is Lent?

Lent is the period of forty week days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Easter Saturday. Sundays are not counted in the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus.

Ash Wednesday is on 21 February 2007 and Easter Sunday is on 8 April 2007.

What is Lent?

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Christian church. The forty days of Lent mirror the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.

Lent was originally a time when the faithful rededicated themselves, and when new Christians were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. Lent is therefore a perfect time for intentional reflection and repentance. We are reminded of the huge sacrifice God made for us, and how easily we forget to sacrifice ourselves to help our neighbours.

Where does my money go?

To provide:

• Fresh, clean drinking water for the remote rural village of Kalo Kalo in Paua New Guinea
• Preschools for the marginalised tribal people of the Nilgiri Hills in South India
• Micro-credit scheme (small loans) for poor people in the East Nusa Tenggara Province of West Timor
• Increased availablity of safe drinking water for the communities of Muzarabani area in Zimbabwe
• A drop-in centre and feeding program for orphaned and vulnerable children in Mwandi, Zambia

How can I get involved

Contact Judy Redman for a copy of the information brochure and tracking calendar, a copy of the Bible Study notes or to book into a Bible Study group. Or you can sign up on line

Find out more

Visit the Lent Event Website for more information about the projects that are being supported and the program itself.