Earthwise
Calvin DeWitt -
Earthwise is a compact (87 pages) introduction and biblical response to environmental stewardship issues from a Christian perspective.
Strengths
Calvin DeWitt has a remarkably high level of credibility to speak on this subject: He is the co-founder of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, president emeritus at the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, and currently serves as president of the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists. The Reformed Church in America called DeWitt “the dean of the evangelical environmental movement.”
The Epigraph is a call from John Calvin to cultivate rather than abuse the earth, taken from Calvin’s Commentary on Genesis.
DeWitt meets the reader where they’re at, pointing out that Christians get so focused on the "treadmill of busyness" we have no time to focus on God's amazing gifts in creation. And so using Psalm 104 as a reference, DeWitt begins by instilling a sense of awe and wonder in the reader by describing God’s “7 Provisions for Creation.”
DeWitt is a gifted communicator, making the complex understandable with word pictures. For example: "Our rapid consumption of these [carbon] deposits as fuels for our way of life is much like burning library books as fuel instead of reading them for lessons they can teach.”
DeWitt builds his case for the “7 Degradations of Creation” by first explaining there are three types of environmental literature: 1) "Refereed" (reviewed by experts) 2) "Gray" (produced by foundations and government agencies) and "Popular" (newspapers, magazines, etc.). He then points out that his descriptions are based on “refereed” literature.
Earth-Wise challenges the reader to integrate biblical stewardship themes (i.e. contentment) into their approach to creation care. For example: “If we learn to seek godly contentment as our great gain, we will take and shape less of God's earth. We will demand less from the land. We will leave room for God's other creatures. We will be responsible stewards, caretakers, and keepers of creation.”
Useful as both a personal and group study guide, Earth-Wise ends each chapter with excellent tools for engaging small groups including opening questions, prayers, scripture references, and thought-provoking questions designed to get people talking about their own experience as well as what they’ve just read.
DeWitt is obviously very familiar with various arguments against Christians addressing environmental concerns, and addresses each of them with a succinct down-to-earth response in the last chapter.
Things to Be Aware of
Although DeWitt mostly uses Scripture to express the glory of God in creation, readers may sometimes wonder if DeWitt is stretching the meaning of a passage to make his point. For example, he uses a few phrases from Isaiah 24 to describe mankind’s “arrogant assault on the fabric of the atmosphere” when in fact the passage in context is about God laying waste to the earth as a judgment against people breaking his "everlasting covenant."
Available at Faith Alive Resources