On Earth as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Contemporary Theology of Creation

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With the 2015 publication of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, many people of faith have found themselves challenged to seek new ways of addressing serious ecological questions — issues essential to the flourishing of all creatures and not just human beings. This volume brings together fifteen select scholars to consider pressing contemporary environmental concerns through the lens of Catholic theology.

Drawing from the early church fathers and other authoritative voices in the Christian tradition, the contributors to On Earth as It Is in Heaven show how ancient, creedal Christianity offers significant insights into our current ecological dilemmas and speaks powerfully about what it means for us today to care well for God’s good creation.

CONTRIBUTORS and TOPICS

Robert Louis Wilken on honoring centipedes and toads — and all of God’s created works

Christopher J. Thompson on not reducing creatures to “resources” solely to be “used”

Steven A. Long on understanding the created order as a participation in the divine, eternal law

Marie George on human stewardship of creation as both kingship and kinship

Matthew Levering on “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” — a good idea?

Dawn M. Nothwehr, OSF, on sustainability from a Franciscan perspective

John A. Cuddeback on land use and household stewardship

Faith Pawl on animal flourishing and suffering

Paul M. Blowers on evolutionary theory and the promise of restoration for all creation

Christopher A. Franks on Job, poverty, gratitude, and “a gentle life”

Jonathan J. Sanford on how Aristotle and Maritain illuminate our obligation to care for creation

Paige E. Hochschild on contemplating rather than dominating nature, building on Augustine and George Grant

Chris Killheffer on how monastic sources help us rethink gluttony and its remedies

David Vincent Meconi, SJ, on the wonderful, awe-filled interrelationship between creatures and their Creator

Esther Mary Nickel, RSM, on the liturgy as the space in which all creation is consecrated before the cross of Christ