Travail Of Nature

274 Pages

Additional Info
H. Paul Santmire answers the accusation that Christianity is directly responsible for the present ecological crisis with an historical survey of the theology of nature. He demonstrates that while a theology of nature has not enjoyed a dominate place in the history of Christian thought, there lie within the Christian tradition the building blocks for a positive theology of nature. He contrasts the metaphor of ascent, which has led Christians to the Gnostic tendancy to devalue the natural world, with the metaphors of fecundity and migration to a good land, which include the natural world in the scope of our theological and biblical thought. Finally, Santmire makes limited suggestions for the development of a new perspective on biblical interpretation. H. Paul Santmire is a Lutheran pastor in Hartford Connecticut.