Creation Care (Book Review)

‘Talk about the environment is for tree-hugging New Agers or wilderness “freaks”, not for Christians’ ¹

The view in the quote above is likely to be widely held in our churches and one for which a challenge is long overdue.

As Christians who base our belief and practice on God’s word, it is to God’s word that we must go. In Creation Care, father and son team Douglas and Jonathan Moo invite readers to open their Bibles afresh to explore the place of the natural world within God’s purposes and to celebrate God’s love as displayed in creation and new creation. The authors are well equipped to take up the challenge with their reputation and experience in both theology and environmental studies.

They follow the Biblical Theology for Life series format – ‘queuing the question’, ‘arriving at answers’, and ‘reflecting on relevance’. The series expresses the conviction that our theological understanding must be seen in everyday life applications. The end product is a work that thrills, challenges, and then inspires.

I was thrilled to be taken through the creation narrative in Genesis and the tumbling beauty of Psalm 104. We are part of and responsible for this world that God declared good and loves dearly.

I was challenged and painfully reminded of the impact of human sin and my own sin. The creation is groaning as a result of our sin and our failure to exercise faithfully our God-given role as stewards.

I was inspired to consider again Jesus’ incarnation as an expression of God’s love for the world, his reconciling plans for this world so dearly purchased, and his plans for the new creation.

Douglas and Jonathan Moo have provided us with a timely, essential, and very readable work. It is written with sound theology and, at the end of each chapter, relevant questions to help to consolidate the issues explored. It is well worth engaging with these questions. Don’t skip them!

Creation care is not only for "tree-hugging New Agers and wilderness 'freaks'" It is a pressing priority for all who love God and hence will want to love that which he loves. It is an integral, yet still often neglected, expression of Christian discipleship.

Those with leadership and teaching roles in our churches would benefit so much from reading this book and applying the insights it provides. However, it is not just the theologians among us, for all Christians will, like me, find themselves thrilled, challenged, and inspired.

If you would like to talk more about creation care with others in the FIEC fellowship, please contact me via email.

You can order Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World from 10ofthose.com for £14.07 (RRP £15.99).