In this English translation of a book that first appeared in German in 1995, Sigurd Bergmann sets out to ‘expand the encounter between theology and ecology’ (2). Theology, he contends, has an important contribution to make in the overcoming of the ecological crisis. Bergmann’s strategy is to bring together in conversation the theology of creation of Gregory Nazianzus, whom he regards as a particularly fruitful patristic source, with a vast range of contemporary voices. Particular attention is paid to the voice of liberation theology whose preferential option for the poor provides a paradigm, Bergmann suggests, for the incorporation of nature within a comprehensive soteriology. The principle agent of this salvation is the Spirit, who is both the perfecter and the liberator of nature. The basic claim of Bergmann’s soteriology, developed in conversation with Gregory Nazianzus, is that the Spirit liberates creation from evil for the sake of participation in the sociality of God.
After setting out the ‘ecological challenge to theology’ in Part I, Bergmann proceeds to offer an extensive discussion of Gregory’s theological interpretation of creation in Part II. This section is, in my view, the strongest part of the book. Bergmann does an excellent job of expounding the extraordinary depth of Gregory’s trinitarian cosmology. He also manages, as many others have also done, to expose the superficiality of Lynn White’s influential claim that the Christian tradition’s allegiance to the notion that human beings have dominion over nature is a principal cause of the ecological crisis. Gregory is typical in asserting instead that human dominion over nature means service and worship. The real goal of the human commission within creation is to guide sensitively all living things ever closer to God and to lead them in creation’s song of praise to the creator (102). There is much else besides to be learned from Bergmann’s exposition of Gregory’s theology.
Part III engages a range of contemporary voices in the ecological debate, but without the depth of attention accorded to Gregory. The approach of this section is to take a theme from Gregory, and then to survey the attention given to it by a number of contemporary thinkers, often giving no more than a paragraph or two at a time to each one. The result is a fragmented and piecemeal chapter which makes great demands on the reader. It also leaves the impression, perhaps warranted, but against Bergmann’s own intentions, that for all their increased awareness of the vulnerability of nature to human exploitation, none of the contemporary voices approaches the theological depth of Gregory himself; nor provides as sound a theological foundation for the addressing of contemporary ecological challenges. There is little in John B. Cobb, Matthew Fox, Günter Altner, or Sallie McFague, for instance, to match the theological insight of Gregory. Rather than developing a theological account of nature, as Gregory does, these contemporary figures tend rather to allow their ‘theologies’ to be determined by prior construals of what is required by way of human response to the ecological crisis. This is not Bergmann’s point, but his study makes it plain enough.
For those seeking theological foundations for a responsible ecological ethic, Bergmann’s study of Gregory provides ample support. Amongst contemporary theologians, however, one would do better to consult the theology of creation developed by Colin Gunton, for example, than the array of voices marshalled in Bergmann’s book.
