Is the church to blame?

In 1969 Lynn White Jr. wrote and essay titled "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis."The Church has been reeling ever since.

Reading the essay is worth the work (It's about 10 pages of some heady stuff).  That way you don't just see it through my interpretation.
The essence of Dr. Lynn White's paper consists of the following four main ideas:

1. Modern science is an extrapolation of Christian natural theology which realizes man's transcendency of and mastery over nature.
2. With the wedding of science and technology man attained new powers over nature.
3. These powers are out of control and so we find ourselves in a serious ecological crisis.
4. The solution which is essentially religious involves:

• recognition of the guilt of Christianity;
• rejection of the Christian axiom that nature exists solely to serve man; and
• realization of a more Franciscan position which taught a spiritual autonomy of all parts of nature.

While the issues here a very complex, I think we can affirm a few basic propostions:

• A biblical world view can be credited for many of our modern scientific and technological advances.
• Many of our "advances" have brought the ecological crisis- an often unintended, but inevitable outcome.
• The church needs to, where ever possible, accept blame and offer confession.
• The church needs to reclaim a biblical interpretation and world view that will lead future generations into the right relationship with the creation (and the Creator).

In sum, Lynn White is bang-on.

• Let's recognize our guilt;
• Let's reclaim a "green" theology of the Creator and our call to be stewards;
• Hold onto the 'Transcendence" of God, while affirming His abiding and sustaining presence in creation.

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If you do want to tackle the essay, download the full document here:

The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis