Teologiczne przesłanki odpowiedzialności za środowisko przyrodnicze

Abstract

The contemporary ecological crisis, which can lead – if it is not stopped in time – to a complete destruction of the biological life on the earth, is also a challenge for the Church. Christians, who are not free from „joy and hope, grief and fear of the contemporary man” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church 1), cannot stay indifferent to the problem, which has became a „to be or not te be” for the human race. The Apostolic See has spoken on the problem of the protection of the natural environment several times (Paul VI, John Paul II). Refuting the contemporary charges against Christianity which say that it is mainly to blame for the widespread myth, of the economic growth and the ecological crisis connected with it (C. Amery, D. Meadows, L. White), the author tries to show and interprete the most important theological premises appealing to the Christians to take up the responsibility for the natural environment. The analysis leads him to the following conclusions: 1. The idea of God’s image in man cannot be restricted only to the man’s cosmic function. Including this function in the whole of other man’s abilities and obligations hidden in the idea of „God’s image” (also the social, theological and historical functions) enables one to avoid the charge that Genesis supplies motivations for mankind’s unlimited rule over the world, and an excessive exploitation of natural resources. God’s mandate „Fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1, 28) means serving the world, managing it according to God’s plan, taking care of its integrity and development. Nature, space, as God’s creative work, demands respect, a serving attitude and a spirit of responsibility from people. 2. The ecological responsibility can be also inspired by the cosmic aspect of St. Paul’s, St. John’s and the Fathers of the Church’s Christology as well as by the thought of Teilhard de Chardin, who recognizes Christ as the personal centre of the universe, which will find the end of its evolution in Parusia. The whole cosmos is closely connected with Jesus Christ and his salutary work. Christ is the purposeful and model cause of the universe and the principle of its consistency. The matter (human body) accepted in the Incarnation has reached its final perfection in the Resurrection; in the beloved Christ’s Body it received a participation in the eternal fulness of God’s life. Hence the Resurrection is the origin of liberation and worship, which comprises the whole universe, it is the beginning of the Pascha of cosmos, whose epilogue will be „a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21, 1). 3. An equally strong motivation for the Christians’ responsibility for the natural environment is the law of love towards one’s neighbour, which is fundamental for the Christian ethos. It is valid not only in individual relations, but also in the dimention of the local community and the whole mankind. Interhuman solidarity demands establishing the limits of growth in order to guarantee in this way satisfactory conditions of existence for all the people on the earth and the future generations, since also the quality of the natural environment determines the life which becomes a man. Submitting the uncontrolled growth to a criticism, Christianity establishes at the same time the moral principles of progress and development, whose measure must be always the man, i.e. the real needs of the whole man and all the people. The postulate of reasonable „quality of life” realizing the principle From „have more” to „be more” and the ascetism of consumption connected with it, belongs to the elements of ecological ethics.