God joins us in death

Abstract

Graham B. Walker introduces the slow violence of the environmental crisis as a flashpoint in the question for the doctrine of providence in general and the history of the Cross specifically. Where is God in all this? Two immediate positions are identified: the first position assumes that God is located high above the world of chaos in the valley below. God intervenes as God deems appropriate. Questions of inordinate suffering challenge this starting point. A second notion begins in the chaotic valley below and asks, where is God in all of this? E. Frank Tupper begins in this valley and describes “the God of love (who) always does the most God can do.” Tupper identifies the ecological crisis as a significant factor in the chaos of human history. Walker amplifies this concern by introducing ecologist Rob Nixon’s critique of the Western addiction to global consumption and Edward O. Wilson’s appeal for the religious community and the scientific community to work together for the love of the earth. Looking for theological responses that unite both science and faith with a love for God’s world, Walker dialogues with Ian McFarland and Sallie McFague. Although McFarland and McFague start from divergent theological positions, they arrive at a similar conclusion: the self-limitation of human acquisitive desire for the love of God’s world and God’s identification with the suffering creation of the world in the death of Christ.