341. 7 Problems

Rigorous separation of God from Nature

• implicit, often explicit, desacralization of nature
• avoidance/loss of natural metaphors of the divine
• transcendence implies divine detachment
• immanence implies idolatry=nature worship

Exclusivism of "election" theology

• separates the "people of God" from other peoples and from creation
• is oriented to people and not nature

Dominion passage in Genesis

• suggests a human right to "exploit" the creation
• currently interpreted in terms of exploitation not stewardship

Hierarchialism of Medieval Christianity

• Great Chain of Being
• Places man above other animals, natural order

Tendency of religious organization to seek political expression

• results in association of church with power rather than compassion
• results in focus upon society instead of nature

Association of Protestantism with Capitalism

• results in association of religion with exploitation of nature
• tends to ally religious interests with structures of power
• tendency to associate good works with virtue

Protestant tendency to construe sin in moral not ontological terms

• sin is seen as particular deeds rather than as a condition of being
• tendency to remedy sin through corrective action
• tendency to view sin in individual rather than corporate terms

General Christian acceptance of religious/secular division of culture

• church and culture become isolated from each other
• church tends to avoid criticism of culture
• culture tends to avoid self-analysis in religious terms
• secular culture tends to increasing autonomy

Environment is associated with science and not religion

• church resists seeing environmental problems as moral issues
• secular culture imagines only technical/systematic solutions