Both Matt and John have posted recently on the importance and place of animals, John has asked whether we need to switch from an anthropocentric theology to a theocentric view.... trying to see things from God's point of view, with the Godhead being at the centre of the created order rather than looking at ourselves as the pinnacle of creation...
Matt has responded by showing that our behaviour ( lifestyle) directly corresponds to our world-view.... are we as human beings sustainer's and carers of creation ( in God's image) or mere consumers- placing ourselves above and beyond the created order...
I believe that these questions go much deeper than the question of our care for animals- to our relationship with the planet itself. Too often in our cosseted western lifestyle we are sheltered from the realities and devastation caused by our consumerist lifestyles... and before I start to sound like some form of "saint" let me tell you I am as guilty as the next person, and have only recently started to make changes that reflect a change of world-view... that I am ashamed and saddened by my own consumerism, and the way that for too long I have been wasteful and unthinking in the way I have lived.
This world view has two main sources first a western consumer ethic, the fact that we see our value through things and not for who we are, this is subtle for we often don't notice the culture we swim in.... we demand cheaper products and do not stop to count the cost to our fellow human beings in developing countries, to the environment , nor to ourselves. Secondly many of us have swum in an anthropocentric view without realising it- we have been taught of our uniqueness in relation to God- our need for salvation, our place.... we slowly become the centre of out thinking...( do we subtly make God in our image?) .
Sallie McFague presents us with some challenging thoughts in her book Models of God- these are from Chapter 1- "A new sensibility";
From Pierre Telliard comes the challenge to go within ourselves to discover that we are a part of the vastness of creation itself;
.... and I allowed my consciousness to sweep back to the farthest limit of my body, to ascertain whether I might not extend outside myself. I stepped down into the most hidden depths of my being, lamp in hand and ears alert to discover whether in the deepest recess of blackness within me, I might not see the glint of waters of the current that flows on, whether I might not hear the murmur of their mysterious waters that rise from the uttermost depths and will burst forth no man knows where. With terror and intoxicating emotion I realised that my own poor trifling existence was one with the immensity of all that is, and all that is in the process of becoming. (McFague 1987. p. 4)
McFague points out that this journey of discovery forced Telliard to know himself as a part of and not separate from creation, that our sense of interdependence forces us to view ourselves differently:
... in this world the absolute divisions between human beings and other beings, and even between the organic and inorganic are softened, as are many of the hierarchal dualism's that have accompanied those divisions; spirit/ flesh, subject/ object, male/ female, mind/body. The holistic paradigm suggested in place of the atomistic paradigm has, I believe, revolutionary consequences for Christian theology. Not simply to accept this paradigm to feel it, to incorporate it into our imaginations, is a necessary dimension of the new sensibility required of Christian theology in our time. (McFague 1987. p.5)
This incorporation of a new paradigm into our very beings forces us to relate to the world around us in a new way. Pre-packaged meat from the supermarket was once a living being whose life has been taken that we might eat.... what were it's living conditions- has this cheap consumer driven culture led us into blinding ourselves from the harsh and revolting reality of factory farming?How about those cheap vegetables- how many chemicals have saturated the land forcing them to grow unnaturally quickly? Where have those chemicals flowed to- what effect have these had on the fish in our rivers???
These are old questions in the 21st century.... yet they are questions we must re-visit again and again! I believe that we must acknowledge our interconnectedness with creation, that we must adopt a truly theocentric view of that creation and our place within and not above it if we are truly going to make a difference. We have much to learn from other cultures whose lifestyle and interaction with the created order is one of respect and care.
Let's keep re-visiting those questions until we change...
Thanks to Matt and John for bring this subject up. I've just re-visited John's blog to find this: "God loves Creation"- go and read more!
Pictures by Farid De La Ossa see more and read more here
