Where is the new environmental theology leading us?

Theologian: The human being is not the "crown of creation"

Not only does Ms Spies go off the deep end in environmental theology but also in Marian theology.

Swiss theologian Spies in the "Salzburger Nachrichten": "Just because people are doing well, the goal of creation is not fulfilled. It is only fulfilled when the whole world is doing well".

The Swiss theologian Franca Spies has pleaded for a new Christian view of creation and redemption, in which the focus is no longer only on human beings. In an interview with the "Salzburger Nachrichten" (Saturday), Spies emphasised that in the two biblical accounts of creation in the Book of Genesis, human beings come much closer to the whole of creation than has become visible in the history of Christianity's impact. "The human being is not there for themselves, but they are an aspect of creation. Creation as a whole is good and serves life," the theologian said.

Of course, the idea of the human being as the "crown of creation" has remained in our consciousness. The central statement of the Bible, however, is a different one: "Human beings are made in the image of God. This special role does not make them a ruler, but emphasises their responsibility: precisely because they are made in the image of God, they must take care of creation. "

"God-imageable" precisely does not mean the primacy of the human being, "but he is to fulfil on earth the role that God fulfils in his creation." Put another way, "Humankind is to serve creation, to serve its life."

Christianity needs to focus less on the redemption of the human being alone, Spies affirmed, "It is not about the human being alone. There is redemption only in the relational structure in which I stand inside as a human being. We have to say goodbye to the familiar story of the impact of Genesis. We need to find a new awareness of how Genesis can also be understood differently."

Pope Francis could be used as an example of this, as he explicitly wrote in his highly regarded environmental encyclical "Laudato si'" that it is not only about the relationship between human beings and God, but also about the relationship between human beings and the environment. This is indeed a great innovation. Spies: "Just because people are doing well, the goal of creation is not fulfilled. It is only fulfilled when the whole world is doing well."

Spies, a theologian at the University of Lucerne, gave a workshop on "Theology in the Ecological Crisis" at the Salzburg University Weeks this week. The University Weeks will end on Sunday with a festive service and a keynote lecture by Nobel Prize winner Anton Zeilinger at the University of Salzburg.

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See also "Where is the new theology leading us?" and "Where is the new moral theology leading us?"  I made a political speech years ago warning that the human being should be at the centre of environmental concerns, or the new Greens would be the old Reds writ large in their desire to exercise coercive control over society.

Moreover, despite the clear words of Psalm 8.  I have noticed a modernist tendency to be very selective in their Bible studies.

Domine, Dominus noster. God is wonderful in his works; especially in mankind, singularly exalted by the incarnation of Christ.

1 Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm of David.

In finem, pro torcularibus. Psalmus David.

2 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.

Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra! quoniam elevata est magnificentia tua super caelos.

3 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.

Ex ore infantium et lactentium perfecisti laudem propter inimicos tuos, ut destruas inimicum et ultorem.

4 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.

Quoniam videbo caelos tuos, opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas quae tu fundasti.

5 What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?

Quid est homo, quod memor es ejus? aut filius hominis, quoniam visitas eum?

6 Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:

Minuisti eum paulo minus ab angelis; gloria et honore coronasti eum;

7 And hast set him over the works of thy hands.

et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum.

8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.

Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus, oves et boves universas, insuper et pecora campi,

9 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.

volucres caeli, et pisces maris qui perambulant semitas maris.

10 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth!

Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!