After some work today with Sustainable Girdwood with their greenhouses, I thought I'd give the "Green Bible" some space today. They were selling these at the Cokesbury store at Annual Conference. Now, truth be told, I don't have one of these. I have enough Bible translations and study Bibles for my purposes at this point. But I think the concept is cool. And this could make a great resource for a Bible Study about creation-care or a sermon series.
From The Green Letter Bible Website:
From The Green Letter Bible Website:
About The Green Bible
- The Green Bible is the definitive movement Bible that shows that God is green and how we can care for and protect God's creation.
Featuring:
- Green-Letter Edition: Verses and passages that speak to God's care for creation highlighted in green
Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu- Essays by Brian McLaren, Cal DeWitt, Barbara Brown Taylor, Pope John Paul II, Ellen Davis, N. T. Wright, Ellen Bernstein, Matthew Sleeth, James Jones, and Gordon Aeschliman
- Inspirational quotes from Christian teachings throughout the ages
- A green Bible topical index
- A personal green Bible trail study guide
- An appendix with information on further reading, how to get involved, and practical steps to take
- Recycled paper, using soy-based ink with a cotton/linen cover
Green runs through the Bible like a vine. There are the Garden and Noah's olive branch. The oaks under which Abraham met with angels. The "tree standing by the waterside" in Psalms. And there is Jesus, the self-proclaimed "true vine," who describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a mustard seed that grows into a tree "where birds can nest." He dies on a cross of wood, and when he rises Mary Magdalene mistakes him for a gardener.
Now there is a Bible trying to make gardeners of us all.... The new version's message, states an introduction by Evangelical eco-activist J. Matthew Sleeth, is that "creation care"--the Christian catchphrase for nature conservancy--"is at the very core of our Christian walk."
Using recycled paper with soy-based ink, The Green Bible includes supplementary writings by, among others, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope John Paul II, Desmond Tutu and Anglican bishop N.T. Wright. Several of these essays cite the Genesis verse in which God gives humanity "dominion" over the earth, a charge most religious greens read to mean "stewardship." Others assert that eco-neglect violates Jesus' call to care for the least among us: it is the poor who inhabit the floodplains.
The Guardian (UK), highlights some of the eco-friendly passages:
Ezekiel 34:18: "Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet?"
Psalm 104:5, 24: "You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken ... O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures."
Genesis 1:31: "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."
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