Reverence for Life and Environmental Ethics in Biblical Law and Covenant

Abstract

The Bible is generally recognized as the foundation and point of departure for later Jewish and Christian religious and moral understandings. Nevertheless, both conservative and liberal schools within these traditions have tended to assume that biblical religion has to do only with humankind. Much of Western secular philosophy likewise has been pre-occupied exclusively with the human situation. In recent years, many theologians and ethicists have begun to trace the roots of emerging environmental concerns back to biblical sources. Several excellent studies have resulted from this movement. None, however, has focused on biblical laws and covenants.Commonly, biblical laws are thought to refer solely to Israel's relation with God (or Yahweh) and the structuring of relationships within the Israelite community. The term “covenant” generally refers to those reported occasions in biblical times when God designated Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, as his particular people, and laid upon them certain obligations, typically in the form of laws. Yet a great many biblical laws refer to treatment of animals, the land, trees, and vegetation. And two major biblical covenants embrace not only the people of Israel, but all human beings and all living creatures.