Scripture, Land, and Neighborhoods
Dr. Ellen Davis joins Love Your Neighbor, and hear how the Anglican Archbishop of the Middle East urges peace amid events in Iran
Our neighborhoods are not only part of a wider town or city, but also part of an environmental ecosystem. How can we build neighborhoods that care for these ecosystems? How can we build towns and cities where humans care for their environment, nurturing God’s gift of creation, rather than acting destructively toward it?
Dr. Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School has been addressing these questions for decades, and she joined the Love Your Neighbor podcast for our latest episode— available on Apple, Spotify, online, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Dr. Davis brings a rich understanding of the centrality of land and ecosystems to the biblical writers, and how removed our culture is from such ways of life. She says, “I think it’s safe to say that no society in the history of the world has been as far removed from the daily practices and therefore understandings of the biblical writers as our own industrialized economy.”
Putting ourselves into that biblical world, as much as we can, helps us see more ably the work of God in the world. Davis points, for example, to Psalm 36: “Human and domestic beast, you save, O God.” What kind of divine salvation is this that involves beasts and creation?
It’s a terrific conversation about how congregations can care for the ecosystems around them, about Old Testament scriptures, and communal discernment.
Recommended Reading
Check out Dr. Davis’s books including Wondrous Depth: Preaching the Old Testament and Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture.
Our podcast conversation ended with a lovely reflection about caring for God’s creation even in our death and burial. More information on the sustainable burial practice of aquamation is available here.
Finally, in light of recent events in Iran, I want to commend this statement by the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Rev. Dr. Hosam Naoum. Archbishop Hosam was a student of mine in VTS doctoral programs, and he is truly a person of peace. He says:
“When the ‘spirit of fear’ threatens to consume our hearts, we much anchor ourselves in the ‘spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’ ” (2 Tim 1:7) … Our hope is not in the strength of armadas or missile shields, but in the Prince of Peace.
Check out Archbishop Hosam’s wisdom.
https://rosskane.com/
