Sustainability and Christian Initiative
Biennial Conference and 18th General Assembly
Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA)
Nov. 1-3, 2010 , Keimyung University, Korea
Introduction:
“Sustainability,” the theme of this year’s ACUCA conference, is a popular concept and a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every aspect of life, not only to the human species but also to the rest of God’s creation. Human over-population of the planet is causing steady degradation of the Earth’s ecosystems, leading to imbalances in natural cycles and resulting in negative impacts on both humans and other living organisms. Paul Hawken has commented that, "sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth’s two most complex systems—human culture and the living world.” Literally speaking, sustainability means the capacity to endure. According to current usage, when the term is applied to ecology, it refers to the ability of biological systems to remain diverse and productive; when applied to human populations, it refers to the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. In its 1987 report to the United Nations, the Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
However, more than thirty years have passed since the establishment of the Brundtland Commission. Despite the many subsequent studies, reports, meetings and other efforts sponsored by the United Nations, as well as by regional and national governmental and non-governmental organizations, deterioration of natural ecosystems and cycles continues to accelerate. Global climate change is one example: in recent years, global warming has resulted in an array of disturbing phenomena, from an increase in the incidence of extreme weather, local climate change, retreat and disappearance of glaciers, oxygen depletion in seawater and rises in sea level. In addition to the headline-making natural disasters, these phenomena are producing impacts on food supply, water resources and human health.
Sustainability, therefore, is not a topic merely of academic interest but rather one that directly concerns the survival of our own species and that of many others. However, attempts to respond to pressing environmental issues such as global warming have intensified the conflict of economic interests between developed and developing countries. The so-called “Earth Summit,” convened in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the series of similar meetings that have followed annually have made very little progress toward reaching a consensus that would permit a unified response to these issues. Despite the acrimonious debate fueled by the vested interests of the nations involved, the goal of a sustainable world remains a crucial one for the human species, not just to save it from extinction, but also to restore its relationship with the rest of creation. The nature of what that relationship should be leads in turn to a reflection on the nature of humanity and human spirituality.
This presentation, which is developed out of an educational concern to nurture global citizens through Christian higher education, will focus on the Christian understanding of the relationship between humans and ecology and on Christian initiatives for the redemption of God’s creation. The presentation will be divided into two parts: in the first part, I will discuss Christian impacts on ecological issues from a theological point of view; in the second part, I will focus on the mission and responsibilities of Christian higher education as it responds to the ecological crises confronting the world today.
Christian Religion: A Root of Ecological Crisis?
Max Weber (1864 – 1920), a German religious sociologist and political economist, argued that ascetic Protestantism was one of the major “elective affinities” that determined the rise of capitalism. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber theorized that capitalism in northern Europe evolved because the Protestant ethic proposed by John Calvin induced people to engage enthusiastically in work in the secular world, causing them to develop business enterprises, to engage in trade, and eventually to accumulate wealth for investment. He concluded that the Protestant ethic was a force behind an unplanned, uncoordinated mass action that influenced the development of capitalism. Even though Weber rejected deterministic approaches and considered the Calvinist ethic to be only one of a number of factors that led to the development of capitalism, his work led to the widespread recognition of the potential impact that religion can have on economic and political structures.
The Protestant work ethic articulated by Calvin considered all work, regardless of type or position, to be entrusted by God as a means by which humans glorify God. A willingness to work hard has traditionally been regarded as a positive human virtue. However, when this trait is connected to the capitalist habit of accumulating wealth for investment, it becomes linked to the negative human expressions associated with the capitalist market system, such as egocentrism, competition, greed, materialism, and ecological exploitation. Although it was not Weber’s intent to associate directly the Protestant ethic with negative aspects of the market system, his analysis of the relationship between Protestant values and the economic systems that they tend to promote raise thought-provoking questions for Christians (particularly those of us who come from Calvinist traditions) and impel us to engage in self-critical reflection.
Weber is not the only scholar who has discerned a relationship between worldviews growing out of Christianity and the development of socioeconomic structures that are now in an adversarial relationship with the environment. More recently, Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (1907-1987), professor of medieval history at Princeton, Stanford, and UCLA, has argued that traditional Judeo-Christian theology is fundamentally exploitative of the natural world. According to White, “the mentality of the Industrial Revolution, that the earth was a resource for human consumption, was much older than the actuality of machinery, and has its roots in medieval Christianity and attitudes towards nature.” White suggested that orthodox Christianity tends to foster an exploitative view of nature because: 1) the Bible asserts man's dominion over nature and establishes a trend of anthropocentrism, and 2) Christianity makes a distinction between humans (formed in God's image) and the rest of creation, which has no "soul" or "reason" and is thus inferior.
The Anthropocentric Tradition of Christian Theology
While the conclusions of Weber and White regarding the role of the Christian religion in the development of modern capitalist economic structures and the process of world industrialization do not necessarily apply to the whole spectrum of Christianity, they nevertheless reflect the modern trend to regard Christianity as having arisen from an anthropocentric perspective that later developed into a Euro-andocentric (European- and male-centered) ideology.
Although the theological foundation of the Christian religion is the Triune God as creator of the universe, its doctrine of soteriology, which is based on the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God-man figure, perceived through the Jewish historical background and in the context of the early church, has been directed exclusively towards the human species. The doctrinal arguments regarding sin (and original sin), salvation (redemption), and consummation (Kingdom of God, heaven and hell), for instance, are all overwhelmingly concentrated on human destiny. The creed formulated by the first ecumenical council in Nicaea, for instance, bases its confession on a Christology that is exclusively associated with human creation. The second paragraph of the Nicene Creed reads:
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
According to church historians, the first ecumenical council in Nicaea was convened by Roman Emperor Constantine, for the purpose of solidifying his empire through the unity of bishops and churches. The creed produced by this council, thus focused on the most divisive issue among the early church bishops, i.e., Christology. The creed, veering decisively away from a holistic view of creation, specified the human race as the sole target of the salvation accomplished by the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The anthropocentric view of Christian faith therefore became a hermeneutic principle for the Christian interpretation of Scripture and Christian traditions.
Accompanying the anthropocentric worldview of Christianity was a dualism that developed under the influences of Hellenic philosophy; it separated not only Creator God and his/her creation, but also separated humans and the rest of God’s creation. Unfortunately, it was subsequently manipulated as a tool to categorize human relationships on the basis of gender, class, race, and even hierarchical socio-political status, and thus legitimize and sustain the corruptive power of domination and exploitation in human history.
Attempts to Recapture Christian Tradition
Whether Christian religion is by nature anthropocentric and whether the creation order proposed by Christian Scripture must be interpreted as a hierarchical domination of human beings over the rest of creation are questions open to debate. The theological conclusions of Weber and White were based on their correlation of observed economic phenomena with a specific Christian ethic (Weber), and of ecological degradation produced by technological development with its proposed roots in the Judeo-Christian view of nature (White). Though not without controversy, such writings have rightly highlighted the magnitude of the impact that Christian values have already had on the global environment. The intention of Lynn White was to suggest that the ecological crisis is fundamentally a spiritual crisis; in recent years he has been joined by other religious scholars who have made similar assertions. For instance, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian professor of Islamic studies, argues that, “the environmental crisis is fundamentally a crisis of values.” If, as Tillich suggested, religion is the nature of cultures that shapes human values, religion is thus implicated in the human determination over ecological and environmental issues. From a Christian perspective, in order to remedy human wrongdoing towards nature, it is necessary to “recapture” Christian tradition and the interpretation of Christian Scripture.
The analyses of Weber and White have elicited numerous responses over the years; although these responses are varied, they can be classified into three categories of response: 1) complete agreement with the analysis, 2) dialogical interaction with these viewpoints through “recapture” of Christian tradition, 3) defense of the Christian faith by refutation of the positions taken by its critics. Different proposals have been made to deal with the criticisms of Christianity’s role in the development of the present ecological crisis. Some have appealed to the wisdom of tribal peoples as well as Eastern cultures and religions traditionally regarded as more eco-friendly, while others have attempted to recapture Christian tradition through the re-reading and re-interpretation of Christian Scripture and doctrines. Lynn White himself suggests adopting St. Francis of Assisi as a model for the establishment of a "democracy" of creation in which all creatures are respected and man's rule over creation is delimited.
Christian efforts to respond to ecological issues by a recapturing of Christian tradition have been significant. The creation stories that are considered to be the foundation of the Christian understanding of ecological and social order have been re-read and re-interpreted, and the concept of “stewardship” has been proposed as a substitute for the traditional notion of human “domination” over the rest of creation. Such reinterpretations often rely on insights gained from the second creation story in Genesis to balance the traditional understanding of the first creation story. However, others have suggested that the role of “steward” is a relic of hierarchical feudalistic society that should be abandoned in favor of models of co-existence and partnership between the human species and the rest of creation.
In addition to the efforts to re-examine Christian Scripture in order to gain new insights, efforts are also being made to explore the formation of Christian doctrines in relation to their context and background. New theologies developed for modern, post-modern, and post-colonial contexts, including contextual theologies from the Third World, are all examples of the theological struggle to comprehend adequately the relevance of Christian doctrines and values for this particular period of human history. A paradigm shift from a “theology of salvation” to a “theology of creation” has also been proposed as a means of responding to the ecological crises confronting the modern world. The Role of Christian Higher Education in Responding to Ecological Crisis
What then should the role of Christian higher education be in response to the ecological crises facing our world today? As previously argued, ecological crisis is fundamentally a spiritual crisis. In other words, it is a dysfunction of human spirituality that has led to the unrestrained exploitation and destruction of ecosystems. Recovery of a proper relationship between humans and the rest of God’s creation is thus the key to preserving a full and harmonious universe. It is in this area of restoration that Christian education is suggested to have a distinctive role and mission.
Education can be considered to be a process of transformation. According to Wikipedia, education in its broadest sense “is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.” Based on this understanding of the nature of education, the mission of higher education is therefore to prepare students for leadership in society by means of research, instruction, and service. In today’s world of globalization, higher education is considered very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy. According to a statement issued by the 1982 United Nations World Conference on Higher Education Partners, “At no time in human history is the welfare of nations so closely linked to the quality and outreach of their higher education system and institutions.”
With this awareness of the crucial role played by the institutions and systems of higher education in the welfare of our nations and people as well as the future of our planet, our meeting here as member universities and colleges of ACUCA is inevitably challenged by the crises confronting our respective nations, the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole. These challenges, to highlight just a few, include the eradication of poverty, the establishment of justice, the attainment of peaceful coexistence of nations and peoples, and of course, the achievement of sustainable development and eco-justice. Because ACUCA is a community of Christian institutions of higher education, we may be able to identify our distinctive contribution to education by our common struggles to respond to these challenges, by our solidarity and by our collective wisdom. Christian Presence in the Higher Education System
In recent years, the global ecological crisis has drawn intense attention and concern from the academic world and communities of higher education. Many research projects and academic curricula have been proposed and designed to address the urgent issues of sustainability. We must ask ourselves, however, whether there is a distinctive contribution that Christians can make with regard to this critical educational goal that would add to or go beyond what is already being done in secular higher education systems. There are a range of opinions on this. In a speech delivered at Abilene Christian University and entitled “Christian Academe vs. Christians in Academe,” Kenneth C. Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia proposed that Christian higher education should be characterized by differences from secular higher education in three main areas: differences in teaching, differences in credentialing, and differences in mentoring. An alternative model for Christian higher education has been proposed by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA), a long-time educational partner of ACUCA. The UB has advocated the concept of “Christian Presence” and adopted as its mission the enhancement of higher education in Asia through its Christian commitments. In contrast to Elzinga, UBCHEA has taken an inclusive position towards religious pluralism in higher education. In the preamble of its position paper, UBCHEA describes itself as “a Christian organization motivated by a commitment to Christian values, expressed through its venerable tradition of Christian higher education in Asia. Such expression takes place primarily, though not exclusively, through Christian institutions of higher education. The United Board refers to this expression of Christian values in higher education as Christian presence. The position paper goes on further to explain: The work of the United Board embraces a rich variety of situations across Asia, where Christians are a minority. Given this situation, the expression of Christian presence attempts to be sensitive to the wider social, religious, and cultural contexts. Therefore … Christian values are articulated broadly as humane values that engage people of other faiths and of no religious faith, drawing a response from them that reflects their rich religious and cultural traditions….Christian presence is developed and implemented through encouraging collaboration and research among Asian institutions on vital issues in Asia. Such collaborative research and action empowers Asian leadership in higher education to address structures of injustice, to promote human community, and to care of the environment. Although the United Board has taken an inclusive position with its open-ended interpretation of the concept of “Christian presence,” it implicitly yet unmistakably affirms that Christian higher education possesses additional features relative to general higher education:
Christian higher education is the fostering of value-based leadership in administrators, faculty, and students, who will serve and contribute to understanding and justice in their societies. It is education that is also accessible to the less advantaged. Christian higher education is not exclusively by and for Christians, but is committed to Christian values: liberal and humane education; education of the whole person; moral development of students and faculty..., it is education that addresses social, human, and environmental issues… Christian higher education nurtures not only the formation of Christian students, but also the formation of students of other religious and cultural backgrounds, to understand their own religious tradition as well as the religious traditions of others. From the widely divergent positions of the evangelical and ecumenical theological camps regarding the mission of institutions bearing the name “Christian,” it is easy to focus on the significant differences between them. Yet, despite these differences, most of all who are involved in Christian education agree that it has distinctive features. There is no consensus, however, on what these features are. To some degree, I suppose this is the real situation of an association such as ACUCA. By highlighting this phenomenon and the nature of our association, I am proposing that, as an association of institutes of Christian higher education, although we are not necessarily in agreement about the interpretation of the concept of “Christian presence” in higher education, we do agree that Christian faith can supply “distinctive surpluses” relative to higher education in general. The many topics and themes tackled during our different levels of meetings and in our research are attempts to explore our common understanding and commitment and represent some of the distinctive qualities of Christian higher education.
Christian Initiatives for Sustainability through Higher Education
Based on the preceding discussion of the nature of Christian higher education and its potential contribution in responding to the global ecological crisis, I propose the following initiatives as a starting point for discussion and further development for us as leaders in Christian higher education. I am not attempting to give an exhaustive list of all the possible initiatives; neither am I trying to suggest that these are the only ways to accomplish our mission regarding ecological issues:
1) Advocacy of eco-justice education as an essential component of higher education. As mentioned previously, ecological issues have come to the forefront of attention in academic communities around the world. As a result, an unprecedented amount of academic research is being conducted on environmental topics, and an increasing number of activities promoting environmental protection and concern for global ecosystems are taking place on university campuses. However, many of these efforts are still being carried out in isolation; there is a tremendous need for coordination and unified action. Christian universities and colleges, which have their roots in a common faith that recognizes divine purpose and beauty in creation, can act in unison to initiate an advocacy that stresses eco-justice and incorporates it into the quality assurance criteria of higher education. Such advocacy might also contribute to our common goal of promoting Christian presence within the higher education system.
We may take the current state of higher education in Taiwan as an example. A sharp decline in the birthrate over recent years has reduced student populations and created a financial crisis that threatens the survival of all universities. The distorted accreditation system that reduces institutions of higher education to nothing more than highly developed manufacturing units, existing solely for the creation of profit and serving merely to prepare students for their sale on the job market, has worsened the situation. The highly controlled educational policies implemented by the government give very little space for Christian universities and colleges to re-define and implement the Christian characteristics of their education. To some degree, this situation also explains why the all the discussions of sustainability on university campuses have accomplished relatively little. A strong international Christian advocacy of specific criteria for educational excellence might strengthen the position of individual Christian institutions to take creative initiatives that depart from societal norms.
2) Commitment of research and instructional capabilities to further explore and clarify, from a Christian perspective, the relationship between humans and the rest of creation. The ecological crisis has been suggested to be at least in part a spiritual crisis, and the traditional Christian worldview has been suggested as one of its roots. There have been a variety of efforts to recapture the Biblical message and Christian traditions in order to manifest Christian support for ecological protection. To date, however, these efforts have mostly been the work of individual theologians and have only rarely been formatted as ecclesial confessions, let alone incorporated into the agenda of higher education. I do not mean to suggest that all Christian universities should establish their own divinity schools; they should, however, form policies to promote interdisciplinary academic research by Christian faculty members to explore the issue of the interdependence between the human species and the rest of creation. These policies should also encourage dialogue between Christian faculty members and colleagues from other living religious traditions and ideologies that will be constructive to the harmonious coexistence of the future inhabitants of the earth.
3) Implementation of Christian ethics for ecological justice at all levels of administration, teaching and research activities. Christian ethics must be expanded, on the basis of Christian devotion to the wholeness of God’s creation, to put high value on behaviors that promote eco-friendly environments, sustainable lifestyles, and a spirit of eco-justice. Christian concern for ecological harmony should be viewed as yielding a range of positive outcomes—physical, mental and spiritual—that institutions and individuals assist in shaping and achieving.
As previously mentioned, the developed world presently considers the earth as a resource to be exploited and an object for economic development. Even so-called environmental advocates in the academic world have an approach toward nature and creation that is largely anthropocentric. The popular articulation of sustainable development in the academic community is concerned, by and large, with the well-being of humans. In other words, as long as the resources of nature are sufficient to sustain human needs, or even wants, no attention will be paid to issues of eco-justice. To some degree, this lack of regard for eco-justice also underlies the confrontation between developed and developing countries over environmental issues. In the context of eco-justice, sustainability is an ethical issue that invites human beings to redefine their role within the totality of God’s creation. Only through this kind of radical redefinition of the human role in relation to the whole of creation can awareness be generated for the need to live simply and humbly in harmony with the rest of creation.
4) Reevaluation of existing curricula and research projects from perspectives of ecological concern. We ought to seek ways of increasing the impact and effectiveness of our education with regard to global ecology, not just by increasing the number of courses related to environmental issues, but as far as possible to require that ecological concerns be dealt with and reflected upon in all courses.
5) Encouragement of individual faculty members and researchers to engage in academic activities and development of technologies that contribute to the goals of environmental protection and energy conservation. Students can also be encouraged to take up research topics in this area.
6) Last but not least, implementation of a holistic education that includes a spiritual dimension and is concerned not only with isolated human existence, but also with peaceful, harmonious interaction with the whole of creation. In so doing, ecological issues can be integrated into every aspect of student life and learning.
Redeeming God’s Creation through Christian Healing and Reconciling Ministries
Although Christians form a minority in most Asian countries, their contributions have not been limited by their small numbers. Instead, Christians have played a significant role in the modernization of many Asian countries. In this post-modern world, however, the Christian community is facing critical challenges. If the Christian minority is going to continue to make positive contributions to society, it should, in addition to persisting in its prophetic role, explore more deeply the truths of God necessary to confront the challenges of this present hour. In so doing, Christian institutions of higher education, which provide freedom to study and research all dimensions of life, should carefully consider how they can best nurture the next generation to be even more faithful to the Creator and to the whole of creation.
The nurturing and transforming nature of education, viewed from its creative function, can also be understood as a process of healing, which is theologically synonymous with the concept of redemption. The ecological education we are proposing to build, one that will lead to the creation of a harmonious oikos, is derived from the Christian value of reconciliation. Thus, we as Christian educators can take part in the redemptive work of God through our efforts to bring reconciliation to God’s creation by active participation in the educational process of healing.
It is my sincere hope that ACUCA, as an association of Christian universities and colleges in Asia, will be commissioned by this assembly with a historic responsibility to lead the journey.
Christian Presence in Asian Christian Higher Education: A Position Paper. Paper unpublished.
Dr. Huang Po Ho (Chang Jung Christian University, Taiwan)