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