Many conservatives might identify ecological crisis writing as “The Sky is Falling” writing, since it knows what the science is telling us about what we’ve known, when we’ve known it, and what our responses have been. But one might as well call the Bible a “Sky is Falling” book, since it begins with an affirmation (“it is good”) that is right away rejected by the human actors, the very first humans. And the stories like that repeat themselves. A “Good” Creation, source of life (“breath/ruah”, charged with being “keepers” (“keepers of our “brother” [Gen. 4:9] and of the earth [Gen. 2:15], each time followed by murder or estrangement, followed by exile.

That we are apparently prone to repeat this cycle, over and over, even increasingly, as we come to the place where we , who seek to “make a name for ourselves”*** , become enthralled with our capabilities. But we forget that “with great power comes great responsibility”, and our transgression becomes more powerful and consequential than ever before.

***(as the story goes, a few short chapters later , [chapter 11]. As I typed “Chapter 11”, I was struck with what that means to most people today: Bankruptcy. We have lost the connection for which the Biblical narrative is at pains to remind us: Ecological consequences and dependencies. Sin/disobedience is followed by exile “out of that place” and into a place of disharmony and separation.