Great fiction has sometimes changed the way the world thinks. Readers may have identified so closely with a character’s plight that inaction at the end of the story was not an option. Or, an author’s vivid portrayal of filthy housing conditions, chain gangs, or slavery sparked a movement that fostered social change. Books like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle come to mind. (Sinclair’s novel about the unhealthy conditions in the meatpac

There’s a new concept gaining steam on the international scene. It’s called "environmental peacebuilding” or “environmental peacemaking” (and sometimes “environmental mediation”). It’s based on the principle that our common dependence on the natural world—clean water, fresh air, usable timber, or accessible oil, metals and minerals—can provide a pathway to peace for parties in conflict. Put another way, it’s the idea that cooperation among countries is essential because natur

God has an amazing plan to redeem and restore things that became broken when disobedience entered the picture. He calls it reconciliation. The Bible says that He’s reconciling to Himself all things through Jesus Christ. And by all things, he means all. Things like people, animals, and the natural world. Creation itself. Here’s the kicker: we’re called to participate in this plan! Since His plan for restoration centers upon Christ, we should start there. Let's examine what He

Christians haven’t exactly been known as the protectors of the planet. They’re sometimes maligned as narrow-minded capitalists who would sacrifice the last green tree on Earth for the sake of corporate profit. Or heartless monsters who would gleefully log the spotted owl into extinction. Stereotyping? Perhaps. But, then again, where was the Christian outcry when the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster rained down radiation on Northern Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe? When po