A New Creation: Reimagining the

Beginning, the End and Everything in

Between

Toward an Evangelical

Environmental Ethos

… For God so loved the world that

He gave His only-begotten Son ….

—John 3:16

russpierson

A New Creation - ASARCO

ASARCO

Smokestack

Tacoma, WA

A New Creation

The more deeply I search for

the roots of the global

environmental crisis, the more

I am convinced that it is an

outer manifestation of an inner

crisis that is, for lack of a

better word, spiritual.

Who said that?

A New Creation Graham

The more deeply I search for

the roots of the global

environmental crisis, the more

I am convinced that it is an

outer manifestation of an inner

crisis that is, for lack of a

better word, spiritual.

Who said that?

A New Creation– Tutu

The more deeply I search for

the roots of the global

environmental crisis, the more

I am convinced that it is an

outer manifestation of an inner

crisis that is, for lack of a

better word, spiritual.

Who said that?

A New Creation– Warren

The more deeply I search for

the roots of the global

environmental crisis, the more

I am convinced that it is an

outer manifestation of an inner

crisis that is, for lack of a

better word, spiritual.

Who said that?

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Who Said That? Poll

A New Creation– Gore

The more deeply I search for

the roots of the global

environmental crisis, the more

I am convinced that it is an

outer manifestation of an inner

crisis that is, for lack of a

better word, spiritual.

Who said that?

A New Creation– Nairobi

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation– Common

Cultural Cognition

and Modern Tribalism

A New Creation

Six Americas

A New Creation

The Alarmed

• Most engaged in the

issue of global

warming. Convinced it

is happening, human-

caused, and a serious

and urgent threat.

Already making

changes in their

lives, support an

aggressive national

response.

A New Creation

The Concerned

• Also convinced global

warming is a serious

problem and support a

vigorous national

response. Intend to at

least engage in

consumer action on

global warming in the

near term, but less

personally involved.

A New Creation

The Cautious

• Believe global warming

is a problem, but less

certain than the

Alarmed or the

Concerned. They do not

view it as a personal

threat, and do not feel a

sense of urgency to

deal with it.

A New Creation

The Disengaged

• They do not know and

have not thought much

about the issue at all

and say that they could

easily change their

minds about global

warming.

A New Creation

The Doubtful

• Evenly split. Many

believe if global

warming is happening,

it is caused by natural

changes in the

environment and won’t

harm people for many

decades, if at all. They

say America is already

doing enough to

respond to the threat.

A New Creation

The Dismissive

• Actively engaged, but

on the opposite end

from the Alarmed.

Believe global warming

is not happening, is not

a threat to either people

or non-human

nature, and strongly

believe that it does not

warrant a national

response.

Six America Poll

http://apps.facebook.com/climatesurvey/

http://uw.kqed.org/climatesurvey/index-

kqed.php

A New Creation GreenFaith

“I’m on a mission

from God”

A New Creation Maslin

The Beginning

• The Big Word: Cosmogony

• Science and Faith

• Evolution

• The Creation Narrative

A New Creation– Maslin

The End

• The Big Word: Eschatology

• “Left Behind” Theology

• Earth’s Future

A New Creation Maslin

Everything in Between

• The Big Word: Dualism

• Postmodernism

• The Nature of the Gospel

A New Creation Maslin

Earth is crammed with heaven

And every bush aflame with God

But only those who see take off

their shoes.

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Dualism

A New Creation Maslin

Nature, the world, has no

value, no interest for

Christians. The Christian

thinks only of himself, and

the salvation of his soul.

— Ludwig Feuerbach, 1843

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

According to this skeptical stance, an experience can be

caused by the brain or by an immaterial being (God or

the soul) but not both: a neurological explanation of an

experience rules out a supernatural or religious one.

The

God

Spot

A New Creation Maslin

… we are all caught in an inescapable network of

mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

—Martin Luther King, Jr, June, 1965

A New Creation Maslin

A New Creation Maslin

What is “postmodernism”?

• Something that transcends modernism

• A terminal moment within modernism, “modernity

come of age”

• Modernism in its nascent state, confronting the

issues and weakness in late modernism with a kind

of premodern understanding and ethos

A New Creation Maslin

“Intelligent Design” as

Evangelical postmodernism?

• Postmodernism is wary of what it calls

metanarratives that “self-authenticate” through a

rational approach.

• American culture in general is now wary of science.

We pick and choose.

• Evangelical culture has created “parallel science.”

A New Creation Maslin

A “Reductionist” Gospel

• The Four Spiritual Laws as an example of the

“modern American” gospel.

• Orthodox view of salvation: sal­va­tion as involv­ing

the whole cre­ated world and our rela­tion­ship with

it; a com­pre­hen­sive process rather than an

indi­vid­ual attain­ment.

• African gospel: “sal­va­tion”

http://justiceunbound.org/journal/current-issue/reimagining-the-gospel-for-evangelicals-

in-an-environmental-age

A New Creation– Cosmos

For God so loved the

world …

A New Creation: Reimagining the

Beginning, the End and Everything in

Between

Toward an Evangelical

Environmental EthosRuss Pierson, DMin

GreenFaith Fellow,

Certified Sustainable Building Advisor™,

GreenAdvantage™-certified,

Transportation Coordinator,

Lane Community College

russpierson@gmail.com

russpierson