Rediscovering Value in Creation

In 1967, the journal Science published an influential essay by historian and college president Lynn White, Jr. titled The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis. His premise was that society's destructive and exploitative attitudes and actions toward the natural world are rooted in medieval Christianity and continue through history and into the modern era.

As expected, this manuscript generated hundreds of debates, papers, presentations and books in response in the decades that followed. Despite the directed criticism, White's work is often credited with linking Christian spirituality to its relationship with nature, as well as catalyzing an environmental movement among some Christian circles.

Numerous studies since have shown support to White's thesis. In general, surveyed Christians tend to show lukewarm or even resistant attitudes to environmental causes, especially those that seem to run counter to conservative politics or the economics of domestic energy policy.

Seeking Truth in Scripture

Many would contend, however, that it is explicit in Scripture that God values His creation. For example, in Genesis 1, God deems Creation "good" even before it was useful to Adam. In Genesis 9, God shares with Noah that the rainbow is the sign of the covenant between him and all life on Earth. In Revelation 11, St. John writes that someday "the time will come for judging the dead, rewarding the servants and saints and for destroying those who destroy the earth." You would assume that those who believe nature is the handiwork of a personal, loving Creator should have a better environmental ethic than those who believe that everything in the natural world is the fortunate outcome of an undirected series of random events.

Scripture is embedded with numerous natural or agrarian themes: Christ's parables and the Psalms include themes like good seeds, weeds in the grain, working the vineyards, casting our nets, and tending the sheep. It might as well be a foreign language to modern culture. Few have seen a mustard seed outside of a deli sandwich. How many can really describe the morphology of a vine? Do we even know where the food we give thanks for comes from? Modern life is pushing us further from direct interactions with the natural world and into an artificially driven existence. We are called to more.

Seeing Creation Through God's Eyes

This growing isolation of Christians from Creation has not gone unnoticed. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has a Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER), which engages seminaries and faith communities to further these conversations and provide context for outreach between churches and their communities. Palm Beach Atlantic University hosted a "Creation Care" conference in February 2025 exploring the theological and philosophical underpinnings of the relationship between humans and Creation as well as providing practical ideas and opportunities for congregational outreach in their local settings. Since that conference, some participating churches have had field days at local county and state parks, connecting their congregations to their local natural areas, holding environmental service projects and reinforcing the physical, aesthetic and spiritual benefits of outdoor recreation for their Church families and congregations. Through these exercises, we are reminded that Creation should be as valuable to us as it is to the Creator.

Dr. Tom Chesnes is a professor of biology and the associate dean of sciences at PBA. A Florida native, he specializes in estuarine and field biology. He earned his bachelor's in zoology and master's and doctorate in environmental engineering sciences from the University of Florida. He has researched, presented, and published work about seagrass and invertebrate ecology, fisheries management, the invasive Burmese python in the Everglades, and the interface between science and religion.