One of the Christian authors whose books I collect is Jacques Ellul, who died in 1994.  He was a very complex individual with some positions that I do not accept.  Nonetheless, he was a deep thinker and a constant critic of how the modern world is more the victim of technology than the master of it.  Charles Ringma, professor of missions and evangelism at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, has written a wonderful devotional booklet using the thought of Ellul: Resist the Powers: With Jacques Ellul.  It sits on my desk for an easy reach when I need to be challenged.

Now let me challenge you with Ellul.  Here’s a snippet from one of his articles that relates to the theme of this blogsite.  Let me know what you think about his views on this.

Stewardship and Love of Nature
 

Jacques Ellul

Since nature is no longer sacred, man is taken to be the lord of nature.  But the essential thing has been forgotten: This nature is the creation of God, who handed it over to Adam and Eve—not to do as they pleased, but to manage and care for in the absence of God.

What does this mean?  From the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures it means two things.  It means that God does not want to rule over His creation directly; He does not want creation to be an object that runs exactly the way He sets it up like some automatic mechanism.  God places people in nature precisely so that everything will not be submitted mechanically to some over-riding power, but in order “to give room to play.”  This in turn means that humanity (in the image of God) is called to act toward creation in the same way God does, although without His total power.  And this God is given the name love.  If God created, it is through love; if He gives independence to creation, it is through love.  We must treat nature in the same way, managing it not for blind and egotistical profit, but through love.  Such are the implications of the first chapters of Genesis.

“Christian Responsibility for Nature and Freedom”
by Jacques Ellul
From Cross Currents Spring 1985 pp. 49-53

 

See you outdoors!

Dean