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Richard Bauckham. The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010. 226 pp. $24.95, ISBN 9781602583108.
New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham has been working toward a full treatment of Bible and ecology for some years, with articles appearing in a variety of peer-reviewed publications in the areas of biblical studies and theology. It is therefore noteworthy that he has chosen to make that fuller argument for the first time in a book written for a broad audience and not primarily for his immediate colleagues. The Bible and Ecology serves exactly the function that its straightforward title suggests, as a general introduction to the topic. The beautifully clear design of the argument and Bauckham's lucid writing style make the book suitable for students and other readers with no formal background in Bible and theology. Readers who have already considered the Bible from an ecological perspective will find fresh and valuable insight into the under-worked aspect of the topic, namely what distinctive guidance the New Testament offers for Christian understanding and responsibility in this matter.
Bauckham presupposes an ecological crisis rather than arguing for its existence or presenting any details about its current manifestations. The problem he addresses is a theological one: "a deep crisis in the human relationship to the rest of nature that stems from the modern technological project of mastering nature" (Preface). The crucial point here, and the core argument of the book, is that the Bible represents humans as ineluctably part of nature, or (in the theological terms Bauckham prefers), members with our fellow creatures in the community of creation. The argument is presented in five chapters, accompanied by numerous brief notes, with a useful bibliography and indexes. (A minor flaw is the lack of a list of abbreviations for the notes and bibliography, which is regrettable in a book designed to introduce readers to a field of investigation.)
The fundamental identity of humans as creatures among fellow creatures is the source of Bauckham's extensive criticism of the stewardship model, adopted by Christians as the chief alternative to a view of the non-human world that is marked by domination and exploitation. The first chapter offers a schematic critique of the stewardship metaphor or mode - indeed the...