Creation Care Discipleship Why Earthkeeping Is an Essential Christian Practice

Calls Christians to serve, protect, and restore our planet and shows how we can put an "earthkeeping faith" into practice. "A decisive case that creation care is necessary, not optional, to faithful Christian practice"In Creation Care Discipleship, Steven Bouma-Prediger calls us to serve, protect, and restore our planet and demonstrates how we can put an "earthkeeping faith" into practice. "Over many years, Bouma-Prediger has been a leading voice charting the way for earthkeeping as an essential Christian practice. Now in his latest wide-ranging book, we are treated to a distillation of the wisdom he has acquired along the way." -- Norman Wirzba, Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University "This is a book that the whole church in the US will want to welcome. Deeply informed by recent ecumenical discussions and creatively engaged with current justice issues, this well-written study is predicated on a lucidly rendered ethic of Christian virtue." -- H. Paul Santmire, author of Brother Earth, The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology, and EcoActivist Testament "Bouma-Prediger blends decades of reflection, teaching, and scholarship into a comprehensive study. Creation Care Discipleship presents a decisive case that creation care is necessary, not optional, to faithful Christian practice." -- Debra Rienstra, Calvin University; author of Refugia Faith "I was twenty-one years old when I read my first Bouma-Prediger book. From that moment on, my life has been a sequence of events reverberating from reading this brilliant thinker. This book will have the same effect on a whole new generation. I can't commend it enough." -- A. J. Swoboda, Bushnell University; author of After Doubt "This is a book for our times! A rich and practical guide for how we can better live out God's call to care for all creation." -- Ben Lowe, executive director, A Rocha USA "Bouma-Prediger's skills as a teacher are on full display in this wonderful book that manages in a short space to introduce readers to the biblical, theological, ethical, and practical foundations for earthkeeping. Highly recommended!" -- Jonathan Moo, Whitworth University Although our planet faces numerous ecological crises, including climate change, many Christians continue to view their faith as primarily a "spiritual" matter that has little relationship to the world in which we live. But Steven Bouma-Prediger contends that protecting and restoring our planet is part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian. Making his case from Scripture, theology, and ethics and including insights from the global church, Bouma-Prediger explains why Christians must acknowledge their identity as earthkeepers and therefore embrace their calling to serve and protect their home planet and fellow creatures. To help readers put an "earthkeeping faith" into practice, he also suggests numerous practical steps that concerned believers can take to care for the planet. Bouma-Prediger unfolds a biblical vision of earthkeeping and challenges Christians to view care for the earth as an integral part of Christian discipleship.