Page 2 – Living with Other Creatures – Richard Bauckham
The emphasis on the theocentricity of the universe – rather than the anthropocentricity implied by modern interpretations of the “dominion” passage – leads to another central theme of the book: doxology. Fundamentally, we are joined to the earth and its inhabitants by our shared creaturely nature and by our common purpose of praising the Creator. All things exist to give glory to God and to sing God’s praise. Beginning with Genesis 1, Bauckham draws attention to multiple biblical sources which attest to the praise of creatures. Psalms 104 and 148 are two of the most important, as well as Job 38-39. He also mentions the Benedicite, or Song of the Three Children, found in the Greek version of Daniel 3:57-88 and used in the Liturgy of the Hours. All creatures – from the celestial bodies to the reptiles and worms to the grass of the field – praise God simply by being what God made them to be. “The creation worships God just by being itself, as God made it, existing for God’s glory. Only humans desist from worshipping God; other creatures without having to think about it do so all the time” (12). Within the theocentric universe, there can be no hierarchy of praise – all worship God equally in their various and diverse ways. When it comes to adoration of the Creator, humans have no special authority; in fact, humans can learn from their less-articulate fellow creatures. “The creatures help us to worship primarily by their otherness that draws us out of our self-absorption into a world that exists not for us but for God’s glory” (154).
The majority of the essays in this volume apply this doxological approach to select New Testament texts. Bauckham notes that Jesus did have not much to say about nature per se, but his proclamation of the kingdom implies a great deal about humans’ relationship to their fellow creatures. The Psalms and Prophets which lie behind Jesus’ teaching call humans to recognize God’s benevolent kingship; the non-human creation already has, as Jesus’ references to the lilies and sparrows implies, yet Israel is charged with calling the nations to observe God’s rule and to prepare for judgment. Furthermore, Jesus’ actions were themselves a sign of the coming “peaceable kingdom.” He provides an extended meditation on Mark 1:13, where Jesus was “with the wild beasts” in the wilderness for forty days. Jesus’ peacemaking with the wild things is a sign of the restoration of harmony to the universe. In another essay, the four living creatures of Revelation 4 are understood as the worship of all creation, human and non-human, in the eschaton. The eagle, the lion, the ox, and the man are taken as representative figures for each of the great categories of animate creatures – fowl, wild animals, domesticated animals, and humans. “The living creatures are the preeminent creatures engaged in that glorification of their Creator to which all creatures are called. They embody pre-eminently all that is most magnificent in the whole creation” (176).
Throughout Living With Other Creatures, Bauckham encourages Christians to open their eyes and ears to the beauty of the unceasing acclamation of their fellow creatures. He retells stories of saints such as Kevin, Benno, Leonoris, Cuthbert, and especially Francis to illustrate the way in which Christians throughout the ages have come to see other creatures as joint participants in the chorus of creation rather than as instruments for the enlargement of humanity. He observes multiple times that while Christians do not worship God in nature in an animistic or pantheistic way, the beauty and diversity of creation do call us to worship the transcendent Creator: nature has been de-divinized, but not de-sacralized. Once we see our place in creation in relation to God rather than in relation to ourselves, we can begin to assume to the humility of Kevin or Francis, or Jesus himself, and begin simply to live with other creatures.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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