Original scientific paper
ELEMENTS OF THE ECOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF GENESIS
Ivan Cifrić
; Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb
Abstract
Christianity represents the part of WestEuropen civilization and is in a way co-responsible for the ecological drama of mankind. There are one-sided accusations of Christian-Jewish tradition that simply take hold of arguments in Biblic thought. The author is of the opinion that the arguments are not the legitimate and well documented critique of the role of Christianity in the creating of the myth of anthropocentrism.
The research work on Biblical thought can offer the man the critical analysis of present-day ecological perspectives of the mankind in the way that Genesis discovers them as its own essential elements. Genesis constitutes the ideal image of the world quite contrary to the real world one. The Biblical thought discloses the idea of creating and freedom - the ideal and typical, historical one as well. The author is of the opinion that ecological structures can clearly be recognized in Genesis.
Tasting the fruit (forbidden) of "good and bad discerning tree", the man broke God's command and was punished and expelled from the ideal world, becoming co-creator in this (man's) real world. But the image of the ideal world was stamped for ever in his genetic code. That enables him to create new visions of the world as well as the visions of the new world.
In Eden apart from "good and bad discerning tree" there was the tree of life; one symbolizing the moral order and the other the genetic order. The man was tempted to get hold of "tree of life". Is the punishment to expel him from that world as well? To be creating the new world the man must, and he is capable of doing it, be thinking projectively, but he always remains responsible to his genetic structure
Keywords
anthropocentrism; Bible; ecology paradigms; ecology perspectives, Genesis; Christianism; visions of the world; theology of creation
Hrčak ID:
136611
URI
Publication date:
15.1.1992.
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