The Environment and Christian Ethics (New Studies in Christian Ethics, Series Number 10)

Northcott takes seriously the allegation that Christianity is to blame for the current environmental crisis. He examines numerous criticisms of Christian doctrine that attempt to show the incompatibility of Christian piety and environmental concern. For example, it has been argued that spirit/matter dualism in Christian thought denigrates material existence to the detriment of all life that lacks a 'soul'. Some critics advocate a complete abandonment of traditional monotheism in order to motivate the religious to save the planet. Ecofeminists especially think that spirit/matter dualism leads to environmental degradation, an inevitable consequence of patriarchy itself which is rooted in dualism. Northcott searches the scriptures and Christian tradition to show that this is a misunderstanding of Christian theology and he also deals with texts in the bible that suggest human domination of all life. After finding considerable scriptural support for the value of non-human creation before God, Northcott thinks the answer is in the 'cosmic covenant' and he articulates a theology of interelatedness that avoids the pitfalls of radical Greek dualism on the one hand and the extreme monism of ecofeminism and the Gaia hypothesis on the other. Most importantly for Christians, Northcott's explanation of the covenant takes seriously the ontological distance between God and creation while affirming the relationality between them. Non-human creation has value before God and humans have responsibilities to creation. Northcott considers many secular environmental ethical theories and finds major shortcoming in them all. For Northcott, it is the secularization of society that bears the brunt of the blame for the environmental crisis. At the end, Northcott considers what an ecologically and socially just society might be like. Some may find his views radical but they deserve thoughtful consideration.