Deep Environmental Philosophy
For Monotheists

Our environmental philosophy is rooted in our most base perceptions about who we are and the reason for our existence.

Judeo Christian thought has played a major role in our culture’s thinking in past millennia. It obviously permeates theological thinking but it has also had a large influence over secular environmental philosophy.

Many people place the blame for the ecological crisis on the shoulders of Judeo Christian religions. The reason for this is that in the Book of Genesis God tells man to subdue the Earth and have dominion over all the creatures.

People have interpreted the creation accounts in Genesis to mean that because we are the only creature created in the image of God that the rest of creation exists for human benefit. God is seen as being separate from the world, creating it from afar and then leaving it in mankind’s hands.

This worldview drives our environmental philosophy and our apathy towards the destruction of the natural world. We think it doesn’t matter if plants and animals are becoming extinct at a rapid rate, because God only cares about us. We think God wants us to exploit the natural environment, because that’s what he made it for.

A Different Interpretation of Genesis

Genesis is not to blame for our culture’s destruction of the planet. It is the way we have interpreted Genesis that has made us out as a foe of the rest of creation.

There is another way of reading the creation account in Genesis, one that places inherent value on non-human creation, a view that is in line with Deep Ecology.

The God of this reading is not one who made the Earth and then sat back and delegated authority to humans to run the world.

This is a God who created the world but also works through the world.

This is a God who shares the power of creation with those beings that he creates in a dynamic interdependent relationship. Rather than being in a relationship of master and servant we are in a mutually supporting relationship.

God works from within the world in dynamic acts of continuing creation rather than working on the world from outside and then just leaving it static.

In this view “dominion over the Earth” is taken to mean care giving or nurturing rather than exploitation. The rest of creation has value to God; it is “good” to God. Therefore humans should relate to non-human creatures the way God would. If he believes them to be “good” he wouldn’t destroy them.

A New Relationship With The Natural World

We should relate to non-human creatures as if they were a part of us, because we are all derived from the same source. When God made the Earth there were no pre existing raw materials with which to work. The only raw material to work with was God’s own spirit. Humans, animals, plants and non-living creations were formed from this same spiritual material.

We may be the only creature made in the image of God, we may be the kingpin, the captain of the team, the wearer of the yellow jersey, the Most Valuable Player but that does not render the rest of the team unimportant.

A good leader takes care of his troops. A good parent takes care of their children. As the leader of creation we must do what is in the best interests of all creation rather than being self-serving and exploiting those beneath us.

Despite the fact that we are the creature who is closest to God we are still but a creature. We need a new environmental philosophy where we participate in the community of life with all of the non-human creations. We need an environmental philosophy where we step back and let creation be “good.” As a creature we must realise that destroying the ecosystem is for nobody’s benefit. We have to live within it and therefore the other creatures that we share this planet with need to be allowed to flourish.

Recommended Articles for Further Reading:

• Toward a Christian Deep Ecology
• Creation in Community - Faith and the Environment

Related Articles From Deep Ecology Hub:

• Deep Ecology - An Atheist Philosophy
• The Ecophilosophy Of Deep Ecology
• The Eight Tenets Of Deep Ecology
• The Story Of Civilization

---

Return from Deep Environmental Philosophy for Monotheists to About Deep Ecology