The Paradise of God

It has become a commonplace that Biblical religion bears a heavy share of responsibility for our past negligence towards the environment. In this provocative book Norman Wirzba argues that the Biblical doctrine of creation actually holds the key to a true understanding of our place in the environment and our responsibility toward it. Wirzba contends that an adequate response to environmental destruction depends on a new formulation of ourselves as part of a larger whole rather than as radically free individuals. Drawing on the work of biblical scholars ecologists agrarians philosophers theologians and cultural critics Wirzba presents a compelling vision of a new religious environmentalism.