Editorial: Faith in the Future?
Anna Rankin

From the director: Finding ourselves in the City
David W Porter

Traveller, the road is made by walking it
Martin Johnstone

The Word made Flesh: A Sign and Foretaste in Limerick
Peter McDowell

Comment: The Architecture of Faith
Michael Whitley

The Word made Flesh: Down and Out in Dublin
Peter McVerry

The Word made Flesh: Cork Methodist Church, Ardfallen
Laurence Graham

The Word made Flesh: Reflections from the Maiden City
Pat Storey

Cathedral Quarters: Interviews with Rev Dr Houston McKelvey and Very Rev Hugh Kennedy
Anna Rankin

Review: Journey Towards Holiness
Claire Martin

Economics and the economy: what are they for?
Tony Weekes

Bible Study: Beyond Silver Coins
Glenn Jordan

Reflection: The 'F' word
Celine Lefebvre

Review: Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living
Ethel White

Difficult Conversations: Looking for God in the City...
Lynda Gould

New Resource
New Loyalties
Divided Past: Shared Future

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REVIEW

Christianity, Climate Change
and Sustainable Living

REVIEWER
Ethel White

IS CREATION CARE OPTIONAL for Christians? If it isn’t, why haven’t we heard about it before now? Thankfully God is patient. It takes us ages to grasp his concerns, e.g. slavery, reconciliation, to name but two that are current headlines. To grasp the extent of God’s vision for the whole of his creation we have to start in Genesis 1 and take in the whole sweep of Scripture ending up in Revelation with the city where human creativity is welcomed. Nick Spencer and Robert White take on this task and do it amazingly well in this very readable and challenging, yet hope-giving, book.

The first section of the book on the factual basis of global warming and climate change is meaty, realistic, well written and very accessible with appropriate use of diagrams and figures. “Uncertain” is a frequently used word and questions such as, “Can we be sure about the scientific theory…?”, “Could the observed climate change be due to natural variations rather than being man-made?”, “Are other issues more urgent than global warming?” are addressed. The importance of the issue is neatly summed up by the quote from the Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, “for the first time in its history, our entire planet’s fate depends on human actions and human choices”.

It’s impossible not to sense the authors’ exhilaration as they draw out of Isaiah, chapters 40-66 their understanding of God’s desire – “that we should live, not for ourselves or for today, but in accordance with the right order of things, obeying God’s law, within the Kingdom of God.” Essentially they support the idea of a whole-Bible gospel taking seriously the accounts of the creation and fall in Genesis, chapters 1-3. Doing so begs the questions: How does individual salvation lead to repair of the damage caused by the fall? How do God’s people, now back on track because of Christ’s redemptive work, fulfil the work given to them at their creation?

The vision drawn out from Isaiah 40-66 should inspire us and unify our attempts to work out what sustainable living is and involves, but it would be easy to despair in the face of such a large-scale and long-term undertaking. Hope is crucial and central – “hope not for but hope in, specifically a hope in God or in His law.” It’s not about expecting a technological fix to suddenly appear nor about complacency that God will sort it all out. It’s about trust in “the creator God (who) is trustworthy”, so that despite the enormity of the task facing us, “it is worth making the effort”.

Clear principles, including a redeemed concept of wealth – the value we put on creation and on people and a concern for justice for all, are derived from the Isaiah chapters and woven into an inspired “dream” of what sustainable living would look like. Only then we get to what we could do in practice. All the familiar responses, such as energy saving light bulbs, ethical investments, nuclear power, biofuels, are examined thoroughly – in terms of their cost and convenience, and comprehensively – at the individual, communal, national, technological and international level.

Human creativity, marred by the fall, is doing enormous damage to the creation God cares about. It isn’t just humans who are to be renewed because of Jesus’ redemptive work, God’s intention is that everything will be made new (Rev. 21:5). As his people, our creativity and our lifestyle should reflect our belonging to his kingdom here and now. Do we need to reconsider and rediscover what Jesus meant when he said that he came to give us abundant life in the light of the first chapters of Genesis and the last chapters of Revelation?

ETHEL WHITE works for the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and is based at the Plant Testing Station, Crossnacreevy where she tests plants! She has interests in everything from what potato varieties make good chips to how wheat can produce higher yields using nitrogen more efficiently. Her desire is for God’s people to take a lead in creation care and in joyful and imaginative fruitfulness in using all the resources and gifts God has given us.

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