In the Interlude 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In the Interlude 1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-08T06:03:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-08T11:45:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/12\/Screen-shot-2011-07-30-at-11.17.00-AM-223x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/\",\"name\":\"In the Interlude 1\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-08T06:03:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-08T11:45:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In the Interlude 1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In the Interlude 1","description":"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In the Interlude 1","og_description":"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-12-08T06:03:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-08T11:45:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/12\/Screen-shot-2011-07-30-at-11.17.00-AM-223x300.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/","name":"In the Interlude 1","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-12-08T06:03:14+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-08T11:45:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In the Interlude 1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":23069,"date":"2011-12-08T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T06:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=23069"},"modified":"2011-12-08T05:45:05","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T11:45:05","slug":"in-the-interlude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/12\/08\/in-the-interlude\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Interlude 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>We earth-dwellers are in the interlude between ecological constraint and ecological catastrophe. Formerly our powers were so limited we lived on earth inside natural constraints; the scientific and technological revolutions, while blessing us immensely, have also given us capacities to exploit creation. We are in the interlude. This interlude observation is from George Monbiot as quoted in Richard Bauckham\u2019s newest book, Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Baylor, 2011).<\/p>\n

How do we live in the interlude? How do Christians live in the interlude?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is easy to get into an argument about global warming, but there\u2019s not much argument about what the Christian nations did to the forests of Kenya and Haiti (see Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains<\/a><\/strong><\/em>). The name of the game was exploitation, and it was this kind of exploitation that led to the potentiality of the ecological catastrophe. But Bauckham shows that Genesis 1:26-28 has nothing to do with exploitation.<\/p>\n

1. To be made in God\u2019s image is to be appointed to stewardship, exercised on behalf of God and with accountability to God. If we read this text in light of the rest of Scripture, we see that humans are not just in a vertical relationship between God and creation but as horizontally related to creatures. (I first saw this in Francis Schaeffer\u2019s little book on ecology when I was a college student.) The neglect of the horizontal is the \u201cgreat ecological error of modernity\u201d (4).<\/p>\n

2. Humans, in Gen 2:7, are \u201cearthy\u201d: Adam is one with the ground as one from the ground. Notice that humans are created on Day 6 but humans do not get a day to themselves<\/em>. They are created with other land creatures.<\/p>\n

3. Humans are not the climax of creation; they are created on Day 6 but the climax is Day 7 where God rests. So God is the point of creation, not humans.<\/p>\n

4. Humans are to rule, but the idea of ruling\/kingship in the Pentateuch is to rule as brother (Deut 17:14-20) and not as one above or over. No tyranny here!<\/p>\n

5. The order of creation is established before Day 6 and Day 6 does not alter the order of Days 1-3. Humans are made to dwell in and care for divine order within creation. Part of this is that humans are told to let creation sustain animal life too (Gen 1:29-30). This is a \u201cmassive restriction of the human dominion\u201d (6).<\/p>\n

6. The Noah story shows us that humans are to preserve species, meaning humans are to care \u2014 like God \u2014 for created beings.<\/p>\n

7. And the sabbatical instructions of the Pentateuch show that creation is to be left alone and to be respected; it is not constant use or exploitation, but respect for in order for creation to restore itself. The wild animals get to eat too (cf. Exod 23:11).<\/p>\n

So Bauckham sees these principles at work: humans are to care for creation; creation is theocentric; humans have a horizontal relation with other creatures; humans have a right to use within the constraints of respect for creation; and humans are to let nature be \u2014 restraint with intervention.<\/p>\n

Then Bauckham examines God\u2019s deconstruction of the hubris of Job (humans) in Job 38-39 where Job is exposed to his utter ignorance as God puts Job in his place. We know more than did Job, but we remain as ignorant of life\u2019s mysteries as we are knowledgeable of the same. The more we learn the more we learn we don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Bauckham sketches two other themes: humanity as within the community of creation (the horizontal in Psalm 104) and the praise all creation gives to God (the vertical in Psalm 19).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"