"For God So Loved the World": An Incarnational Ecology

In an age where ecological devastation threatens our very existence, Christian theology can send us mixed messages about our relation to the earth. Revisiting the doctrine of the Incarnation and the two natures of Jesus as explicated in the Council of Chalcedon, we find rich resources for claiming an incarnational ecology. A non-anthropocentric look at Scripture reveals that God’s covenant is with all creation, and that humans and creation belong together. The Incarnation is the fulfillment of this covenant, and of God’s love for all life. Christ gathers all to himself, and all life partakes of redemption. In the Incarnation we are called to participate in God’s ongoing creative activity in the earth’s redemption and renewal.