Robbie Tulip Blog

Deep Incarnation – Comments from Robbie Tulip, 23 January 2023

Presentation to Ecological Theology Retreat, Desert Creek

1. The integration of ecology and theology is an essential feature of modern spiritual ethics, in recognition that systematic observation of the natural world provides the context for well-grounded thinking about religion. Indigenous spirituality based on connection to country offers a starting point for conversation with the Caring for Creation movement about Biblical ideas that call us to revere the natural world as sacred. Celebrating the sanctity of nature equally aligns to what Pope Francis described in his encyclical Laudato Si as a ‘sublime communion of creation’. 
2. Fr Denis Edwards provided a profound study of ecological theology in his book Deep Incarnation, published in 2019.  Its main theme is God’s redemptive suffering with creatures, how the presence of God’s love is the source of salvation. These are complex ideas that require some work to define and interpret.  Incarnation is the Christian belief that the eternal God who created and sustains our universe was fully present in the life of Jesus Christ, who provides a unique point of connection between the eternal truth and grace of God and the lost and fallen world of humanity.  Only this incarnate connection to God through Christ can save the world from its path to destruction and enable us to find a path toward healing and flourishing through ecological commitment (p124). 
3. A problem that Denis Edwards observed in traditional theology was that it often wrongly separated humanity from nature, mistakenly interpreting salvation in terms of personal afterlife rather than seeking an integrated vision of what it could mean for God to save the world. Edwards writes that we can no longer think of ourselves as individuals whose reality ends with our skins, but rather must find our salvation through the interconnected world of all matter and energy and information (p26).  Similarly, the incarnate Christ is internally related to the cosmos at large (p25).  As Jesus said at John 3:17, he came to save the world, not to condemn it, meaning the world in its whole planetary reality.
4. Reading the Bible shows us that Christ understood salvation to mean planetary transformation, together shifting our whole community from a false vision to a true understanding of how the glorious grace of God is working to liberate us from what Saint Paul referred to as bondage to decay (Rom 8:21).  Where conventional theology often taught that God could not change, Deep Incarnation sees that God can and does change, in that God’s identity is fully given to us in the story of Christ, where God fully chooses to experience all the changing feelings of life in all their complex nature (p82).  God’s nature, as a basic divine attribute, to want humanity to freely flourish for ever on Earth, means that God is intimately entwined with our constantly changing world.
5. Deep Incarnation extends the traditional understanding of faith by seeing God’s loving presence in the whole of creation, recognising that God experiences suffering and change through radical solidarity and love for the whole world (p121). God differs from us in being eternal while we are bound within time, infinite where we are finite, all-powerful whereas we are weak, and purely good while our human motives mix good with evil.  Jesus Christ, as the presence of God within the finite bounds of time and space, connects us to the infinite and eternal.  Jesus brings the unconditional eternal love of God to confront the evil of the world through his sublime moral teachings, leading to his sacrificial death on the cross and the transforming power of his resurrection as an all-embracing promise of healing and fulfilment (p105). 
6. Saint John’s Gospel tells us that the meaning of the incarnation is that the divine Word of God became mortal human flesh.  Denis Edwards explores the ecological meaning of this teaching, observing that the incarnation is a cosmic event (p6), that God is limited to working with creaturely reality (p14, p125), and that God suffers together in solidarity with all nature as an expression of divine love (p15), taking the side of the victims (p24) and feeling their pain (p113).  The incarnation signifies the work of God toward a peaceful and holy creation, calling all humanity to cooperate with God in enabling the natural world to flourish (p16) through the reconciliation of all things (p126).
7. Therefore, the theology of Deep Incarnation sees reality in evolving relational terms, as an interconnected web of life, an ecological system where everything is connected and related to everything else (p19, p112). Christ enables all creation to find unity and wholeness in relation to God (p20), with the divine Word of God supporting the complex interweaving of matter and spirit (p23). The risen Christ is the ecological centre of creation, with the Word incarnate revealed in and constituted by ecological and cosmic interconnections (p111, p113).  The profound teaching of Saint Paul that in Christ all things hold together (Col 1:17) means that the incarnation enables the coherent unity of all creation (p24). The incarnation reflects the humble Wisdom of God in the world, recognising that in Christ God became as nothing in order that he might be everything (Phil 2:5-11, p115). Indigenous people can relate to the idea that God became nothing because they have so often been disregarded as though they were nothing.
8. The theology of Deep Incarnation draws on the ideas of the early church to observe that the Word of God provides leadership and order to govern the world (p58).  However, the insatiable murder and violence that fills the whole earth (p60) shows humanity has turned away from the order of grace, creating an essential need to find a point of connection to the enduring truths of the love and goodness and care of God.  As St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote, the incarnation of Christ enables us to lift our eyes to the immensity of heaven, and discerning the harmony of creation, to know its ruler, the Word of God (p61).  This sense of the Word of God as providing the stable harmony of the visible heavens, like the laws of physics, presents an essential clue for us to reconcile theology and science, recognising the elegant mathematical order observed in astronomy as revealing the rational grace of God.
9. This same gracious mathematical order seen in the grandeur of the cosmos ultimately rules the more chaotic ecological order of our planet through the unity of all, obeying the scientific principle ‘on earth as in heaven’.  Cosmic order is understood in the incarnation, with Christ as the rational mediating connection (Heb 9:15) between the seeming disorder of the world and the eternal order seen in the heavens, showing the pathway of redemption.  Heaven is not just a comforting emotional fantasy, but rather a vision of the planetary transformation of the earth, which is our permanent home (p86).  The Word of God teaches us to overcome the pervasive problem that we have been led astray by our senses (p62) and instead to find the deep reason within the story of grace, from Jesus Christ as the one who governs and orders the creation through wisdom (p63).
10. Edwards contends that a key message of holy wisdom is that the human community is responsible for the wellbeing of all life on earth (p64), but our worship of false Gods has blinded us to this essential truth.  Salvation therefore involves a new kind of relationship of unity between humanity and God and nature (p65), seen in God’s loving solidarity with suffering as opening the path to the transforming and liberating sanctification of our world, entwined in human nature (p76), revealed in the cross of Christ. Our intimate integrating connection to God arises from recognition that God shares in all good values that support the ongoing flourishing of our complex planetary wellbeing, and opposes all evil values that promote needless destruction and suffering (p77).
11. The theology of the cross presents the profundity of deep incarnation, firstly with the observation that in his death on the cross, Christ revealed and confronted the radical power of evil in the world, and triumphed over evil by rising from the dead. The theologian Karl Rahner saw the death of Christ in ecological terms, as an entry into the heart of the Earth, where everything is interconnected (p86). Rather than the old story of the descent of Christ to Hell, Edwards invites us to see Easter Saturday as a time when Earth is infused with divine life, with the resurrection as an embrace of the Earth (p87). Through the cross we are called to love the Earth as our mother (p89), through the loving self-identification of the crucified Christ with creation (p111). When Edwards says the cross is imprinted by the Word on the whole of reality (p122), he means God’s incarnate presence in Christ serves to reveal the sanctity of all nature.
12. The evolutionary framework of ecological spirituality calls us to see life on earth as oriented to an ever-increasing complexity toward spirit (p90), with the incarnation of God in Christ revealing above all that the whole of creation is one.  This presentation of natural complexity as beloved by God further suggests that ecological theology has an essential role in advocating for the sanctity of biodiversity.  We can see divine complexity in the ever-deepening ecological interactions of environmental systems, and can therefore see the destruction of complex natural systems as evil.  The Bible endorses this view by saying the wrath of God is against those who destroy the Earth (Rev 11:18).  We can justly see this moral vision in the injunction of Christ in the Last Judgement (Matt 25:40) that whatever we do to the most vulnerable things in nature we do to Jesus Christ.
13. In Christ, humanity can transcend our instinctive unreflective bodily situation to understand our unity with God (p93), overcoming our tribal instincts to evolve toward a higher spiritual unity.  Through Christ, the world as a whole is illumined by God, through commitment to the planetary community of life, revealing Christ as the innermost secret of all the world (p97). God is not impassive, unfeeling or distant (p114).  God is kind and loving and just and good, entirely present in our world for our salvation through the incarnate earthly life of Christ.

Robbie Tulip

Kippax Uniting Church

2 July 2023

Our lectionary texts for today are from Jeremiah 28 and Matthew 10. They both focus on prophecy, a particularly difficult theme in theology.  The wisdom tradition places prophetic prediction of the future in the context of understanding the signs of the times.  Rather than insisting just one course of events is inevitably fated by God, a predictive prophetic approach recognises that different paths are possible, depending on how people respond to their situation.  People have the freedom to listen to prophets and change their actions in response.  The view of prophecy as a divine revelation from God is important, but does not have to involve supernatural or miraculous powers. Prophecy can rather be seen as arising from careful observation and analysis. The prophets of the Bible are our cultural elders and role models. They should be read with care to appreciate their powerful insights.

Jeremiah is a major prophet in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Our text today from Jeremiah 28 discusses the political debate in ancient Israel about whether the nation should submit to rule from Babylon or seek independence.  Popular sentiment supported independence, but Jeremiah prophesied that this path of rebellion against empire would bring sword and famine and plague.  He rejected the views of the false prophet Hananiah who predicted rapid restoration of national sovereignty and return of the Jewish nobles from exile in Babylon.

Jeremiah’s assessment was that Israel was too weak and corrupt to stand up to the might of Babylon.  This uncomfortable message about national security led to him being placed in stocks for public humiliation and dumped into a sewerage tank to die (luckily he was rescued). Jeremiah argued that Israel had put itself in this bad situation by its own lack of faith in God.  Instead of a focus on moral principles to govern society, Israel had allowed a hedonistic and selfish culture to grow unchecked.  The prophecy was entirely about the consequences of Israel’s actions, pointing out the potential for change.

As a small nation surrounded by large and powerful empires, the only hope for Israel’s national security was to foster good diplomatic relations with its neighbours so they would treat it with respect and friendship.  But Israel ignored this prophetic message. The result was the captivity in Babylon. Israel failed to heed the warning from the prophet Ezekiel that the nation’s pride and aggression led to their subjugation by foreign powers. 

Instead of a government that followed the divine commands of justice and mercy and love, Israel had fragmented its political unity and wellbeing by allowing the rich to exploit the poor and forgetting about God.  Jeremiah saw all these problems as symbolised by the popular worship of false idols instead of the one true God.  He believed that a humble and respectful discussion about religion was essential to military and political strategy and security and stability.

Prophecy is about telling the truth in a blunt and unvarnished way.  It is no wonder people dislike prophets who challenge the comforting emotional myths the community has come to believe.  In Jeremiah’s time, as in every time, people wanted to believe the false prophets who painted a simple rosy picture.  But Jeremiah insisted the signs of the times were very negative – full of war, famine, pestilence and death – requiring a change of social priorities.  It is natural that people are upset by such claims and will look for any excuse to ignore and mock people who promote them. 

Despite his generally negative outlook, Jeremiah did have a positive long-term vision for the world, predicting that eventually a prophet would emerge who could call for peace.  With this vision Jeremiah saw the need for a messiah, a world saviour who could proclaim the truth that will set us free and bring peace to the world.  But the messiah could only arrive when world conditions were ready for peace.

How does Jesus Christ fit into this vision?  The prophet Isaiah rightly predicted that Christ would be despised and rejected.  Like Jeremiah, Christ came into the world in a time of war, dominated by the brutal Roman conquest.  He prophesied the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, a catastrophe that Rome subsequently inflicted in 70 AD. Naturally such a calamitous prophecy was very unwelcome to the Jewish community.  This must have played a part in their suspicion toward the overall message of Christ in the Gospels. 

The comprehensive reformation of morality that Christ proposed in the Sermon on the Mount has a profound prophetic vision, but did not really offer a practical short term political solution for Israel in its conflict with Rome.  In the long term, the difficult prophetic messages that led Christ to the cross were necessary and accurate and were vindicated in the story of the resurrection.

We can see why prophets like Jeremiah and Christ face political difficulties from rulers who found their message unwelcome, but also why the prophets were subsequently recognised and celebrated as people who brought essential information that the world tended to ignore.  As Jesus says in our text today, everyone who welcomes true prophecy welcomes God into the world and is rewarded for that insight.

The most important prophecy from Christ, in my view, is at Matthew 24:14, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  Jesus explains that the end of the age that he predicts will be a difficult time, but also a time of great positive transformation.  He goes on to argue, if I can paraphrase, that the spread of the gospel to all nations around the whole world is an essential precursor to a planetary transformation.  When the whole world is connected, the universal recognition of messianic values of Christ will become the basis of good government.  His vision is of an ethical message that will eventually bring the whole world together in unity and peace and justice.  Here Jesus is saying that while humanity is separated into different cultures who do not communicate with each other, war will continue, but the future age of global interconnection will enable a transformation of values.  Love will rule the world, gradually repairing the damage that heedless human evil has caused.

With this prophecy of world unity, Jesus built on Jeremiah’s vision that eventually it will be possible to prophesy peace.  This message is directly relevant to our world today.  Our planetary trajectory is still toward destruction, separation and war, but the Gospel message tells us we have the ability to be shaken out of our delusional fantasies.  We can wake up and see the truth of our perilous path, to connect with each other in a spirit of respect.

Global warming is a key challenge where a prophetic message of peace is needed today.  Recent science has shown that even if we speed up emission cuts as fast as possible, which is highly unlikely, that alone can’t be enough to make a difference to climate change.  The problem is that Earth system tipping points such as melting of snow and ice and loss of forests already have too much momentum, and will heat things up and overwhelm any cooling effect from cutting emissions.  An emerging scientific view is that the only thing that could reverse the current slide toward even more extreme weather is global cooperation to brighten the planet by reflecting more sunlight back to space.  A range of technologies have been developed for planetary brightening, technically known as albedo enhancement. Australia is leading in this work through support for marine cloud brightening to protect the Great Barrier Reef from coral bleaching. 

Governments and communities are quite reasonably cautious about such new and different climate strategies.  The problem is that a decision to keep ignoring planetary brightening technologies would definitely allow more dangerous sea level rise, extreme weather, biodiversity loss and system disruption as a result of warming.  All these crises would be far worse than side effects of well managed new technologies.  My view is that an International Albedo Authority should be established to research all the different possible methods.  This would have additional benefits of creating hope for the future by enabling nations to cooperate peacefully on a shared vision.  For example refreezing Antarctic sea-ice could help protect Australia from warming impacts.

Another area in need of prophetic vision is Indigenous rights.  The Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 offered a hopeful prophetic message of how the Australian community could come together in a spirit of reconciliation and recognition and respect.  Unfortunately, we are seeing a rather uninformed debate around the referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.  Many in our community promote deceptive messages about supposed risks associated with the Voice, disregarding the many benefits of dialogue and the damage of spurning this carefully developed proposal.

With both climate change and the Voice, the challenge we face is whether to proceed with new and innovative solutions, or to stick with current failing approaches.  In both cases, the consequences of doing nothing are far worse than any risks of the proposed new approaches.  The Gospel of Christ calls us to work to transform the world, taking risks and confronting debate in a prophetic spirit of love and truth.  The Gospel message is that such a transformative prophetic approach can enable us to fulfill the promise of Christ that the will of God can be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Amen

Jeremiah 28:5-9
28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD;  28:6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.  28:7 But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.  28:8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 28:9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”

Matthew 10:40-42
10:40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  10:41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;  10:42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”