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TOM'S
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How our perceptions of the nature of the relationship God calls us to changes in time... Dear all, As I've mentioned in a number of recent posts in the forum, my more leisurely reading over the last few weeks has been Jared Diamond's book Collapse – How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. I'm into the last chapter now where he outlines his conclusions. His two final conclusions in particular have had me thinking about some serious theological issues which I would like to discuss in this commentary. Before I do that though here's a brief background on Jared Diamond and this book... Firstly here's some biographical info from the flyleaf of his book:
Jared Diamond was born in Boston to a physician father and a teacher/musician/linguist mother. After training in laboratory biological science he became Professor of Physiology at UCLA Medical School in 1966. However, while in his twenties, he also developed a parallel career in the ecology and evolution of New Guinea birds. That led him to explore some of the most remote parts of that great tropical island, and to rediscover New Guinea's long-lost golden-fronted bowerbird. In his fifties he gradually developed a third career in environmental history, becoming Professor of Geography and of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA.
As it's name suggests, Diamond's book seeks to explore a number of case studies of societies, civilisations or communities which have collapsed and contrasts these with others with similar characteristics which have survived. Environmental factors play a significant factor in why many societies have collapsed historically. In some cases the factors were outside of the control of the individuals that made up the society either through lack of knowledge or simply because of the scale of the forces involved. In many cases though the collapse has largely come about through innappropriate responses to the environmental forces at work. (Note: the use of the term "environment" does not alone apply to the physical environment but, for example, it also refers to relationships with neighbours, trading partners and other neighbouring societies that are hostile.) In the more heartening cases Diamond charts where good social organisation or leadership has led to enlightened responses that prevented the sort of collapse that occurred in very similar circumstances in neighbouring communities. The thrust of his book is not backward-looking and historical but forward-looking. He is seeking to discern how present day society might best respond to the significant challenges we are facing today. One of those challenges, Diamond argues, comes through the overpopulation of our planet. You might like to read the two conclusions by Diamond that focus on overpopulation and the threat posed to human civilisation. They are quite short and I have scanned and set them out on a separate page. At the conclusion of that there is a link to return to this place and continue reading the discussion I am interested in concerning the theological implications of all of this. Here's the link to Jared Diamond's conclusions on the challenges posed by global over-population: http://www.catholica.com.au/tomstake/020a_tt_210706.php. Now to the theological
questions that we might In my formative years and indeed for most of my adult life the theological perspective I was brought up in, and believed, was that God was "all powerful" and he was "in charge" of all of creation. Basically we didn't have to worry about our future welfare. Much of this theology seemed to spring from two sources, one was this notion of God being "all powerful" and who would intervene in a whimsical way in the unfolding of Creation History. I suspect it also had significant genesis from this passage in Luke's Gospel: Trust in Providence Over my lifetime there has been a sea-change in outlook, it seems to me, regarding our relationship to our environment, to our neighbours who inhabit this fragile planet with us and ultimate all this thinking has been leading to a major re-evaluation of our relationship to God when God is perceived both in the role of Creator and in the role of his on-going relationship to us, and to the wider cosmos. Even fifty years ago when I was a small boy the attitude Australians tended to have was that this land was here to be exploited (principally through agricultural and pastoral pursuits) and it was hardly even a perception that we might have a capacity to wreak havoc on our soils, forests, water and air to the point where this "wide brown land" would be facing a major water crisis, long term drought and the massive loss of productive pastures that we take as a fact of life today from salinity. Our general attitude seemed to be that God provided us with this bounty and it was our right, and even duty, to exploit it. There seemed to be an underlying assumption that if we screwed things up, which basically we thought we were not doing in any case, but if we were, then somehow God would extend his long fairy arm down into the mix and fix everything up again for us.
We hardly need Jared Diamond's research to tell us that many previous societies have failed and that God doesn't necessarily intervene when push comes to shove with some major disaster, calamity or a collapse of a civilisation. The Compass program on ABC-TV last week on the subject of "Miracles" is a further illustration of the theological reassessment that is going on in wider society at the moment of the nature of the relationship God has to Creation. I have already written extensively on this issue of miracles (see ) and will not repeat my arguments here. Reading the sober facts yesterday presented by Jared Diamond on the challenges posed by continued exponential population increase of this planet has taken me into a whole new realm of really beginning to wonder how "Divinely-inspired" the "fairy tale theology" I was brought up on really was? There are gifted theologians and spiritual thinkers who are seriously exploring the implications of all this new knowledge we are gaining access to and its implications for our understanding of the relationship God has convenanted with humankind, and how we respond to the relationship God calls us into with Godself, and with the rest of the Cosmos and all of our human neighbours. Two in particular I have enormous respect for here in Australia are the Adelaide theologian, Fr Dennis Edwards, and also Br Peter Faulkner (brother of the former Archbishop of Adelaide, Len Faulkner. In time I trust that this new forum and community we are creating might make the work of these people much more widely known than is presently the case where, constantly, much of their lecturing seems to have to be conducted "behind closed doors" to specialist audiences.
As we have seen so graphically in Australia in the last few weeks though in the marked contrast of the welcome extended to Fr's Joseph Fessio and Diarmuid O'Murchu, these sorts of discussions literally scare the pants off some in the leadership realms of our local Church. Could I end this commentary with a provocative question: after reading
the information encapsulated by Jared Diamond that I have quoted do you
honestly believe the theological understanding we Catholics were brought
up on that we ought to procreate without regard to the sustainability
of our planet have legs left to stand on? After reading the arguments
of Diamond are the population control policies being pursued by the People's
Republic of China as morally reprehensible as we might have thought just
a few years ago? Links:
What are your thoughts on this commentary? You can contribute to the discussion in our forum. Tom Scott can be contracted at: |
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