Page:The Second Christ, Saint Francis of Assisi and Ecological Consciousness.pdf/2

Page 2 of 9Original Research The first Jesus, the core figure of Christianity, interestingly becomes ‘green’ in one of the recent books of Norman Habel (2009), well-known founder of the Earth Bible Series of about a decade ago. Habel pleads for a new ecological worldview, acknowledging the interconnectedness and interdependence of all life forms and natural elements as they evolved on our planet, and he uses this ecological hermeneutical ‘lens’ to judge which biblical texts are ‘grey’ (anthropocentric) or ‘green’ (eco-centric or bio-centric). He finally finds special ‘green meaning’ in the life story of Jesus. Is there a link between the ‘greenness’ of Jesus and that of Francis? Does Francis pass the test if subjected to Habel’s ecological worldview or consciousness? And is there a place for a ‘green’ Jesus, like a green Francis, in the modern ecological debate?

In what follows, Habel and his ecological hermeneutics and consequent emphasis on a green, immanent Jesus will first be introduced. This will be followed by a focus on Francis to determine the extent of his ecological consciousness and how his contextual ‘greenness’ can be translated in a modern, scientifically informed world.

It was former USA Vice-President Al Gore’s unsettling film on the ecological crisis, An inconvenient truth, that inspired the title of Norman Habel’s 2009 book, An inconvenient text, of which a brief summary follows. Habel (2009:xvi) refers back to the medieval historian Lyn White Jnr (1967), who put the blame for the ecological crisis squarely on Christianity for its views on the dualism between humanity and nature and of humanity’s divine mandate to dominate the earth. The same White (1967:1207) also recommended that Francis of Assisi be honoured as the patron saint for ecologists. Although White might have been one-sided in blaming only Christianity amongst all religious traditions and not including science either, Habel concludes that White was correct in that the Bible (or some parts of it) contributed to the crude anthropocentrism of the senseless exploitation of nature. These texts he calls the ‘inconvenient texts’, the ‘grey’ texts that gave humans the green light to do with nature as they please. He instead pleads for the retrieval of the ecological good news of the ‘green texts’ of the Bible to supersede the ecological devastating news of the grey ones.

However, it is first necessary to undergo an ecological conversion as Pope John Paul II pleaded for at the beginning of the new millennium (Habel 2009:38). To develop a new ecological worldview would be similar to the earlier Copernican revolution. Habel (ibid) verbalises the basic tenets of such a worldview as follows:

"Earth is a living planet that originated in cosmic space and evolved into a living habitat; Earth is a fragile web of interconnected and interdependent forces and domains of existence; Earth is a living community in which humans and all other organisms are kin, who live and move and have their common destiny. (p. 43)"

On the notion of interconnectedness or kin, we as humans are so part and parcel of the earth, so ‘made’ of earth, that we ingest, incorporate and excrete the earth (Habel 2009:44, following Macy & Seed). In his own words, Habel (2011:10) recaps succinctly: ‘… we are born of Earth, and we are living expressions of the ecosystem that has emerged on this planet’ (see also Habel 2008:5; Viviers 2013). With this ecological worldview internalised, we should listen to and identify with the earth in the text as a subject, as a character in her own right.

In order to assist the ecologically conscious reader, Habel (2009:51–64) developed a three-step analysis of texts, namely suspicion, identification and retrieval. They echo the early feministic hermeneutics of suspicion and retrieval that has been taken over by eco-feminists to now read with an earth consciousness instead of a woman consciousness only. Not only patriarchy but marked anthropocentrism is exposed to retrieve the oppressed or subdued voice of earth. Habel (2000a:38–53) conflated his six older principles into these three steps:


 * When reading suspiciously, a critical look is needed if Earth is stripped of her intrinsic worth and denying her (and the earthlings’) purpose in the grand cosmic design.
 * When putting on the identification lens, empathy with the earth is up front, bringing into focus the principles of interconnectedness and mutual custodianship, nurturing each other.
 * Retrieval brings to the fore not only earth’s voice of celebration but also that of resistance.

Habel has demonstrated very creatively how he goes about reading three sets of ‘grey texts’, namely the mandate to dominate, the mighty acts of God and the promised-land syndrome. He first reads them suspiciously to determine their inconvenient ‘greyness’ and then submits them to a green reading (identification, retrieval) to supersede and replace their greyness with alternative, ecologically friendly texts. For this contribution at least, the repetitive ‘saving’ of the Bible and of the Christian tradition with the Jesus story is very interesting. The latter serves as a meta-narrative, an ultimate answer or solution to issues raised. It also applies to each of the sets of texts finally judged in light of the Jesus story, admitting that Jesus was not in the midst of an ecological crisis as we are today (Habel 2009:75). The few examples to follow will illustrate this.

Genesis 1:26–28 is perhaps the mandate-to-dominate text par excellence, a grey text that is ecologically destructive, that devalues earth and gives humans a God-given right to subdue it (Habel 2009:2). Reading this text suspiciously, Habel (2000b:34–38) reiterates his former insights that the word kabash [subdue] is a harsh word, no matter how exegetes try and soften its meaning. The moment humans appear on the earthly scene, the beautiful harmony of the first part of the creation story is disrupted (Habel 2008:8). Humans, created in the image of God, act as his ‘clones’ (Habel 2009:4, following Sibley Towner) to have dominion over everything. http://www.ve.org.zadoi:10.4102/ve.v35i1.1310