Hope for God's Creation
One of the dominant themes in environmental discourse in our culture is a sense of despair. This is is evident as people talk about the world burning or Earth having a fever. It doesn’t help when environmental advocates like Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, tell people we only have “Two Years to Save the World.”
Given that his stated goals are a complete reordering of all the world’s economy around his climate goals, it’s unlikely to happen. Which means that the subtitle of his talk—and much of the rest of the climate discussion—might as well be “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.”
The whole thing is a bit melodramatic and overwrought sometimes. I say this as someone who thinks that preponderance of the evidence points toward substantial human contribution to climate change, which we ought to do something about (though certainly not most of what those like Stiell and others would argue for). However, when you put an arbitrary, short term deadline on a herculean task, you are dooming people to a sense of failure and despair.
As Christians, we have no room for despair, which is one of the reasons why I wrote my book, Hope for God’s Creation.
Hope for real improvement
In my book, I argue that real improvement is only possible by someone who loves the thing being improved. G. K. Chesterton notes, “Before any cosmic act of reform, we must have a cosmic oath of allegiance.” Some environmentalists want to reform humanity, but they do not care for humans. Some Christians who ignore their duty toward creation think themselves totally distinct from creation, so they can ignore its fate while waiting for their release from the physical world. Hope comes from loving both humanity as an abstract category and loving particular humans individually, which is a much harder thing. Hope arises when the knowledge that creation and new creation exist on a continuum, and humans are part of both. Hope remains because of the knowledge that though our efforts may fail to make things better, it’s worth trying because God is going to renew everything one day.
Romans 8 is helpful in defining Christian hope. The creation hopes to be set free from its futility by the sovereign work of God. (vv. 20–21) We humans, also, like creation, are waiting for the redemption of our physical bodies. (v. 23) Paul makes it clear that hope is something beyond the horizon that we should not expect to catch sight of. (v. 24) And yet, we are called to wait on the final redemption of all of creation with patience. (v. 25) There is a sense of anticipation that God is going to set things right someday.
The hope of Christians for creation is not that we will be able to make things entirely correct through our efforts. Rather, we work with the knowledge that we have been given a ministry of reconciliation, which includes all of creation (cf., Col 1:20; 2 Cor 5:16–18). We work toward reconciliation in hope, but recognize that hope will not be fulfilled until Christ comes again. Creation exists in futility in the present age because of God’s curse on creation. (Gen 3:17–19) Our task is to till the ground in hope, making our living, (Gen 3:20) looking forward to the moment when God supernaturally sets everything right.
Christian hope is unique because it is not based on human action, but on divine power. It anticipates human action, but recognizes that human efforts are insufficient without God’s intervention. Hope does not falter when human efforts fail, but continues to inspire perseverance when the outcome seems least sure. It does not require visible success in this life, but it encourages persistence because it is by our faithfulness that our works will be judged. (Heb 11:6) So Christian hope is distinct and more powerful than the counterfeits of this world. That is the hope that should inspire us to care for creation.
Some Podcasts And book news
The section above is actually an excerpt from the introduction of my book. It gives a sense of my vision for creation care from an evangelical Christian perspective. I would be delighted if you purchased the book, read it, left an honest review on Amazon, and even recommended it to your friends and neighbors. (I’d be okay if you bought a dozen copies and put them in your attic, too, but I did write the book with the hopes that people would read it.)
The book is certainly not the last word on the subject, but it has gotten generally positive reviews. For example, it was given an Award of Merit by Christianity Today as part of their 2024 book awards. So some people, at least, think that it’s pretty good.
I’ve also spent some of the last year promoting it, and you can listen to the podcast interviews here:
I am a huge fan of Mars Hill Audio, so I was over-the-moon thrilled to get invited to talk about the book with Ken Myers. Mars Hill Audio operates like a more traditional journal with a subscription, so it isn’t free like many podcasts. However, for $9, you can get access to my interview and also some great discussion with folks like Andrew Wilson (who is one of the sharpest thinkers of our day, in my opinion).
Get access to this interview at: https://marshillaudio.org/products/mh-161-m
2. I had a good discussion with Shane Morris on the Colson Center’s Upstream podcast. You can listen for free to that interview here.
Listen to the interview here: https://colsoncenter.org/upstream/how-christ-can-redeem-environmentalism-andrew-spencer/
3. I also was interview on for by some friends at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Christ and Culture podcast last year. You can hear that discussion here.
Listen here: https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-science/andrew-spencer-building-a-theology-of-creation-care/
4. The London Lyceum also hosted me for an interview about creation care. You can hear that here.
Listen Here: https://redcircle.com/show/bfb67000-a8bc-447f-b7f3-2a941c791a68
Consider buying my book if you’ve found this interesting:
Reading your Bible is a battle. There’s a reason why Paul lists Scripture as the sword of the Spirit in his discussion of the armor of God (Eph. 6:17). More even than that, Scripture reveals God’s character and is, thus, central to worshiping well (Psalm 119). That’s why reading the Bible is a battle.