Christianity and Ecology

  1. Lemma
  2. Hriscanstvo i ekologija
  3. Serbian
  4. Stevanovic, Aleksandra
  5. Ecology and the environment
  6. 18-11-2018
  7. Midić, Ignatije [Author]. Christianity and Ecology. 191-198
  8. Ecology, Religion, Ethics - Belgrade: Zavod za udzbenike, 2013.
    1. Pavlović, Vukašin
  10. ecological consciousness

    1. Midic warns that the ecological problems society is faced with, are acute. The analysis of them shows that their source may be found in the relation between man and nature. Therefore, he stresses that Christianity and Ecology are tightly related.

      However, that connection is both positive and negative. What is negative in this relation is that men as “the icon of God” started considering themselves superior for the capacity to cognize. That further developed so the basis of the existence was seen in logical possibilities evident in Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum”. From then on, man started exploiting all around them. Consequently, science and technology founded on scholastics started to develop rapidly. Men as the thinking subjects have started to believe that they have the absolute power to explore and exploit nature, which led to the ecological crisis.

      Therefore, in order to hinder the catastrophe, the relationship between man and nature needs to be re-established, that is established in a good way. That may be found in the Christian comprehension of man and nature, and their connection. Christianity observes all as “God’s creation”. Man has thus been created so as to preserve this creation and take care of it. Man was created as the last of all the other creations so as to unite the created with the God. Thus, the superiority of man is not in his logics and the possibility to separate from nature, but in the ability to be in the unity with God through nature.

      In conclusion, to solve the problem of the ecological crisis, there should be a turnover in the relation of the man towards nature. From the author’s perspective, moral codes and principles never were of any help. The ethics must come from the inside.  Ultimately, man should not feel the supremacy, but on the other hand, must not idolize nature. His attitude towards nature should be liturgical so as to achieve the harmony and religious unison.