Humanity and the Environment

This chapter shows how the biblical materials draw on a range of registers to structure the complexity of the relationship between humanity and the environment, including blessings, commands, and curses as well as human and divine speech acts. It shows how the creation narrative is paradigmatic of the relationship that ought to exist between humanity and the environment, and which is expressed in terms of a vocation. It explores several divine judgments in the primeval history, including the judgment stories of the Garden of Eden and the Flood, as well as the post-diluvian blessing upon humanity. The chapter also considers a number of eco-laws found in the Torah.