In the remaining few years before the second millennium, the Judeo-Christian community is faced with a unique challenge and opportunity--one that could help transform human consciousness, save the planet, and restore God's creation. As God's stewards we need to elevate the human struggle from the more narrow playing field of the economy to the larger framework of the ecosystem.
For nearly 500 years, the community of faith has battled the powers and principalities on the purely secular battleground of the economy. "Economics" is a human invention; a set of rules and institutional arrangements that in the modern era has severed the human family from its deeper relationships and responsibilities to the ecosystem--God's creation. The near total economic enclosure of human life has dampened our spiritual connection to the Creator and the creation and made us less able to serve as caretakers of the Earth. The shift in prophetic perspective from the economy to the ecosystem forms the basis of a revolutionary new theological ethic for the coming century.
While most traditional social movements view the environment as a resource and relegate it to the margins of political life, a new green generation of theologians and religious activists is beginning to view the environment as the essential context that conditions and determines all economic and political activity. It is with this shared understanding of the larger biotic community that sustains our lives that Jewish and Christian activists champion the principle of environmental justice and a sustainable economy.
Read the Full Article
