Creation Care

What does the Bible say about the natural world and its place within God's purpose? From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a God whose creative power and loving care embrace all that exists, from earth and sky and sea to every creature. Yet the significance of the Bible's extensive teaching about the natural world is easily overlooked by Christians accustomed to focusing only on what the Bible says about God's interaction with human beings.In Creation Care, father and son team Douglas and Jonathan Moo invite readers to open their Bibles afresh to explore a comprehensive biblical theology of creation care as well as a careful analysis of the most up-to-date scientific data about the state of our world. Following the contours of the biblical storyline, they uncover answers to questions such as:What is the purpose of the non-human creation?Can a world with things like predators, parasites, and natural disasters still be the 'good' world described in Genesis 1?What difference does the narrative of the 'Fall' make for humankind’s responsibility to rule over other creatures?What difference does Jesus make for our understanding of the natural world?How does our call to care for creation fit within the hope for a new heaven and a new earth?What is unique about Christian creation care compared with other approaches to 'environmental' issues?How does creation care fit within the charge to proclaim the gospel and care for the poor? Rather than merely offering a response to environmental concerns, Creation Care invites readers into a joyful vision of the world as God's creation in which they can rediscover who they truly are as creatures called to love and serve the Creator and to delight in all he has made.Part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, this practical and robust book will help you develop an effective and faithful Christian response to the scriptural teaching about the created world.

“This book deserves to become the standard work of its kind. One of its many merits is that it grounds creation care in the whole biblical story from creation to new creation. Another is its well-informed and up-to- date account of the plight of creation today. A third is its thoughtful attention to practical and realistic ways of caring about and caring for creation in our contemporary Western contexts.”, “Oh how we need this book! And many more like it. Douglas and Jonathan Moo seamlessly combine their biblical and scientific expertise to achieve two very important objectives. On the one hand, they argue a thorough biblical case for including God’s creation within God’s redemptive mission---that is, within the full biblical meaning of the gospel itself. The Bible has good news for all creation! The great Bible narrative does not begin in Genesis 3 (sin) and end in Revelation 20 (judgment), but begins with creation and ends in new creation. They expose the sheer unbiblical fallacy of popular “theologies” of obliteration (of the cosmos) and evacuation (of the saints) and make abundantly clear the biblical hope of resurrection (of our bodies) and liberation (of creation), so that our future is not to be saved out of the earth (by “going to heaven”) but to be saved with the earth (by God coming here, as the ending of the Bible graphically portrays). On the other hand, they provide abundant scientific evidence to refute the political and corporate myths that so-called “environmental issues” (like the impacts of climate change) are a “hoax” or still in scientific dispute, while calling us to a range of practical measures that will help us move (as this series intends) from biblical theology to life and its fundamental ethical choices. One of the biggest challenges facing the Christian church (especially in the West) is whether or not those who fervently and evangelically claim to ‘love God’ and ‘love our neighbour’ will recognise that you cannot say you love God and trash his property, and you cannot say you love your neighbour and care nothing for neighbours on our planet who are suffering the impact of ecological damage at every level. This book is for those who are willing to be challenged on both counts from the Bible itself.”, “At the heart of Christian theology lies the relationship of God and humanity. Yet this relationship---this heart---takes place in the “body” of our natural world, and it is this material world that is the focus of Doug and Jonathan Moo’s biblical theology of creation care. Creation, what Calvin calls the “theater” of God’s glory, is the stage for the drama of redemption. More than that: the way human creatures engage the natural world, and the way God’s Son enters his creation to redeem it, are themselves important parts of the biblical story. Just as Israel honored God by treating the promised land as a gift, so too Christians honor God by treating the earth itself as a good though fragile gift that will eventually realize the purpose for which God originally intended it: to be a place for divine-human fellowship. This is an important book by two biblical scholars that reminds us that the Bible is good news not only for the church but for the whole material creation to which the human creature is inextricably and forever bound.”, “Douglas and Jonathan Moo have written a theologically profound assessment of the critical issue of creation care. Their analysis is scripturally sound and rich, and their understanding of our present predicament is insightful. Rather than browbeating their readers, they present a hopeful vision that will stir the church to action. Every Christian needs to read this important book.”, “It’s vital that the evangelical tradition is taking seriously the vast biblical resources pointing toward creation care. No one should be surprised that God would like us to look after the beautiful world we were given---and after reading this book, no one will be.”

Douglas J. Moo (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is the Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His work centers on understanding the text of the New Testament and its application today. He has written extensively in several commentary series, including the NIV Application Commentary and the New International Commentary on the New Testament. With is son Jonathan Moo, he coauthored Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World, part of Zondervan’s Biblical Theology for Life series. Jonathan A. Moo (PhD, University of Cambridge) is associate professor of New Testament and environmental studies at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. In addition to his work in biblical studies, he earned a graduate degree in wildlife ecology from Utah State University and has written a number articles and books on the understanding of nature in early Judaism and Christianity. He has worked extensively with the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge (UK) and was a key contributor to the Lausanne Movement’s Global Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel. Jonathan Lunde (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is associate professor of biblical and theological studies at Talbot School of Theology of Biola University. He is coeditor (with Kenneth Berding) of Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and has contributed articles to The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels and the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Jon and his wife, Pamela, have three children and reside in Brea, California.