An Ecolinguistic Reading of the Creation Story in the Bible: Beyond and Within

Abstract

Taking the cue from the recent developments in ecotheology and its concern with a sustainable world where humans, animals and plants may live in harmony with each other, this paper sets out to investigate the representation of nature in the Bible’s origin story. The creation in Genesis is analyzed according to Arran Stibbe’s ecolinguistic framework and “the stories we live by”. The tools used (narratives, evaluations, frames, metaphors, erasure and ideologies) have illuminated an outstandingly popular story and highlighted its potential for meaning in the tension between contrasting worldviews: dominion vs. stewardship; innocence vs. knowledge; theocentrism vs. anthropocentrism. The analysis of narrative and linguistic elements suggests that the world beyond—represented by God, the heavens, the sky—coincides with the order within the whole of creation. The origin story proves deeply ambivalent as it features humans in two antithetical roles depending on the story’s timeline: first as guardians of the created world and then as outcasts full of shame. Going against God’s command is framed as an act of self-betrayal that breaks the unbreakable bond between humans and God, and subverts the perfect harmony of human society within the natural world.