Books & Resources

Biblical Basis - good places to start:

  • Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's theological report entitled God’s Earthkeepers: Biblical Action and Reflection on the Environment
  • Published by WEA coalition partner, Renew our World, Making a World Of Difference (2023)
  • An international theological project led by TearFund that included WEA theological input published   Abundant community theology: Working towards environmental and economic sustainability (EES)  (2022), and an accompanying video in April 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77MQOw2R7i4 
  • Bookless, Dave. Planetwise: Dare to Care for God’s World. Nottingham, IVP, 2008. (Also available as e-book and in Chinese, Dutch, French, German translations).
  • Bouma-Prediger, Steven. For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.
  • Gnanakan, K. God's World: A Theology of the Environment. London, SPCK. 1999. A good text by an Indian theologian and former Langham scholar.
  • Marlow, Hilary. The Earth Is the Lord's: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues.  Cambridge: Grove Books, 2008.
  • Moo, Douglas & Moo, Jonathan, Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018 (The new standard textbook – excellent!)
  • Valerio, Ruth, Saying Yes to Life, SPCK 2020 (Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2020 Lent Book, with associated video resources, based on Genesis 1)
  • Webb, Bryony & Sleigh, Charlotte, God’s Green Book, SPCK 2010, £8.99. Series of well-crafted and enjoyable – but very challenging – group bible studies on caring for creation.
  • Wilson, Jonathan, God’s Good World: Reclaiming the Doctrine of Creation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013
  • Wright, N. T. Surprised by Hope. London, SPCK / New York, HarperOne, 2008.

Biblical Theology – going deeper:

  • Bauckham, Richard. Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology.  Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011.
  • Bauckham, Richard. Bible and Ecology: Recovering the Community of Creation.  London: DLT, 2010.
  • Bookless, D., ‘Let everything that has breath praise the Lord’: The Bible and biodiversity, Cambridge Papers, Vol. 23 No. 3, Jubilee Centre, 2014 Available freely to download from: http://www.jubilee-centre.org/bible-and-biodiversity
  • Bookless, D., The Earthly Jesus and the Cosmic Christ, KLICE Working Papers, Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Studies, Cambridge, 2016 Available to download freely from: http://klice.co.uk/uploads/Working%20Papers/WP1%20Bookless.pdf
  • Brueggemann, W. The Land: Place and Gift, Promise and Challenge in Biblical Faith. 2nd ed.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002.
  • Conradie, Ernst M., ed. Creation and Salvation Volume 1: A Mosaic of Selected Classic Christian Theologies, Studies in Religion and the Environment, vol. 5. Zurich: Lit Verlag GMBH, 2012.
  • Conradie, Ernst M., ed. Creation and Salvation Volume 2: A Companion on Recent Theological Movements, Studies in Religion and the Environment, vol. 6. Zurich: Lit Verlag GMBH, 2012.
  • Davis, Ellen F. Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible.  Cambridge: CUP, 2009.
  • Isaac, Munther, From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth, Carlisle: Langham, 2015 A powerful biblical exegesis on land from a Palestinian Christian.
  • Khua Hnin Thang, R. The Theology of the Land in Amos 7-9. Carlisle, Langham Partnership, 2014 Good biblical theology from Myanmar / Burma.
  • Middleton, J. Richard. The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005.
  • Middleton, J. Richard. A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993.
  • Swoboda, A. J. Tongues and Trees: Toward a Pentecostal Ecological Theology. Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement 40. Blandford Forum, UK: Deo, 2014. Important work from leading Pentecostal eco-theologian. PhD thesis this was based on available from http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/3003/1/Swoboda11PhD.pdf
  • White, Robert S., and Moo, Jonathan. Hope in an Age of Despair: The Gospel and the Future of Life on Earth.  Nottingham: IVP, 2013.
  • Wirzba, Norman. Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • Wright, N. T. New Heavens, New Earth: The Biblical Picture of Christian Hope.  Cambridge: Grove Publishing, 1999.

Missiology:

  • White, R. S. and C. Bell, (eds.). Creation Care and the Gospel: Reconsidering the Mission of the Church. Hendrickson, Peabody, MA, 2016. The official Lausanne creation care book – with contributions and case studies from around the world, several from A Rocha.
  • Bliss, Lowell. Environmental Missions: Planting Churches and Trees.  Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library Publishers, 2013.
  • Bookless, David. "Christian Mission and Environmental Issues: An Evangelical Reflection." Mission Studies 25, (2008).
  • Daneel, Inus. "Earthkeeping in Missiological Perspective: An African Challenge." Mission Studies 13 (1996): 1-2.
  • DeWitt, C. B., and Bookless, David. "To Strive to Safeguard the Integrity of Creation and Sustain and Renew the Life of the Earth." In Mission in the Twenty-First Century: Exploring the Five Marks of Global Mission, edited by A. Walls and C. Ross, 84-104. London: DLT, 2008.
  • Gould, David, ed. Missional Creation Care. Vol. 9.1, Mission Round Table. SIngapore: OMF International Ltd., 2014.(available online at https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/members.echocommunity.org/resource/collection/F6FFA3BF-02EF-4FE3-B180-F391C063E31A/FOR_EC_MRTVol9-No1_Missional_Creation_Care.pdf)
  • Kaoma, J., Ed. Creation Care in Christian Mission. Edinburgh Centenary Series. Regnum Books, Oxford, 2016.. An African editor and contributions from right across the world – great theological and denominational breadth.
  • Simiyu, Stella, and Peter Harris. Caring for Creation: Part of Our Gospel Calling? Grove Ethics.  Cambridge: Grove Books, 2008.

Practice & Ethics

  • Fountain, Dan, Let's Restore Our Land: Church and Community Leaders Working Together to Restore the Land, ECHO Inc., 2016 available as e-book; written from African context.
  • Hodson, M. and M. J. Hodson, Cherishing the Earth: How to Care for God's Creation Oxford, Monarch (2008). Covers bible, science and practical advice.
  • Nkansah-Obrempong, J. Foundations for African Theological Ethics. Carlisle, Langham Partnership, 2013. Good chapter on environmental ethics.
  • Sorley, Craig, Farming that brings glory to God and hope to the hungry, Doorlight Publications, 2011. Written by American who’s worked long-term in Kenya ‘Farming God’s Way’
  • Valerio, Ruth, L is for Lifestyle: Christian Living that Doesn’t cost the Earth, IVP, 2008. Really practical A-Z of ethical lifestyle issues for western consumers.
  • Valerio, Ruth, Just Living: Faith and Community in an Age of Consumerism, Hodder, 2017. Excellent thoughtful and practical book, particularly useful in a European context.
  • Wiggins, Mike, CEDRA: Climate change and Environmental Degradation Risk and adaptation Assessment, Tearfund UK, 2012 (2nd) Excellent tool, mainly developed in Africa, and available online from http://tilz.tearfund.org/en/themes/environment_and_climate/cedra

Web-Based Resources on Environmental Issues:

Useful online videos / presentations:

More Resources:

Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World (Biblical Theology for Life) by Douglas Moo and Jonathan Moo

Under the Bright Wings by Peter Harris

Kingfisher's Fire: A Story Of Hope For God's Earth by Peter Harris

The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation (Sarum Theological Lectures) by Richard Baukham

Living With Other Creatures by Richard Baukham

For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care (Engaging Culture) by Stephen Bouma-Prediger

Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic by Stephen Bouma-Prediger

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture by Wendell Berry

The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry (essays)

The Gift of Good Land by Wendell Berry

The Art of Commonplace by Wendell Berry

Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell Berry

Planted by Leah Kostamo

From Nature to Creation by Norman Wirzba

Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba

Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation by Ed Brown

The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 by J. Richard Middleton

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative by Christopher J. H. Wright

Postcards from the Middle East: How Our Family Fell in Love with the Arab World by Chris Naylor

Creation Care and the Gospel: Reconsidering the Mission of the Church by Lausanne Movement

Tongues and Trees: Towards a Pentecostal Ecological Theology by A.J. Swoboda

Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church by Hannah Malcolm

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe

Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology by Francis Schaeffer

Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision by Randy Woodley

Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World by Wangari Maathai

Just Living: Faith and Community in an Age of Consumerism by Ruth Valerio

God's Gardeners: Creation Care Stories from Singapore and Malaysia by Melissa Ong

Living Radical Discipleship: Inspired by John Stott

John Stott on Creation Care edited by Laura Yoder and R. J. ""Sam"" Berry

Planetwise: Dare to Care For God's World by Dave Bookless

God Doesn't Do Waste: Redeeming the Whole of Life by Dave Bookless

Abbey, Edward.  Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness.  New York, NY: Ballatine Books, 1968

Allen, Scott D. and Darrow L. Miller.  The Forest in the Seed: A Biblical Perspective on Resources and Development.  Phoenix, AZ: Disciple Nations Alliance, 2006

Berry, R. J.  Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present.

Berry, R.J., editor.  The Care of Creation: Focusing concern and action.  Downers Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2000

Berry, Wendell.  Another Turn of the Crank.  New York, NY: Counterpoint, 1995

Berry, Wendell.  Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community.  New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1992

Berry, Wendell.  The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.  Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker and Hoard, 2002

Berry, Wendell.  The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays on Cultural and Agricultural.  New York, NY: North Point Press, 1981

Berry, Wendell.  The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, 3rd edition.  San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996

Berry, Wendell.  The Way of Ignorance: And Other Essays.

Bouma-Prediger, Steven and Peter Bakken, eds.  Evocations of Grace: The Writings of Joseph Sittler on Ecology, Theology, and Ethics.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000

Bouma-Prediger, Steven and Virginia Vroblesky.  Assessing the Ark: A Christian Perspective on Non-human Creatures and the Endangered Species Act.  Wynewood, PA: Crossroads, 1997

Bouma-Prediger, Steven and Walsh, Brian.  Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement.

Bouma-Prediger, Steven.  For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001

Bouma-Prediger, Steven.  The Greening of Theology: The Ecological Models of Rosemary Radford Reuther, Joseph Sittler, and Jürgen Moltmann.  Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995

Brady, Bernard and Mark Neuzil.  A Spiritual Field Guide: Meditations for the Outdoors.  Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005

Bratton, Susan.  Six Billion and More: Human Population Regulation and Christian Ethics.

Bratton, Susan.  Wilderness and Wildlife: The Original Desert Solitaire.

Brown, Edward.  Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation.  South Hadley , MA: Doorlight Publications, 2006

Brueggemann, Walter.  The Land: Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

Carson, Rachel.  Silent Spring.  Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1962

Crosby, Alfred W.  Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986

Davis, Mike.  Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World.  London, UK: Verso 2002

Delio, Ilia et al.  Care of Creation: a Franciscan spirituality of the Earth.  Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2008.

DeWitt, Calvin and Ghillean Prance, eds.  Missionary Earthkeeping.  Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1992

DeWitt, Calvin, ed.  The Environment and The Christian: What can we learn from the New Testament?  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991

DeWitt, Calvin, ed.  The Just Stewardship of Land and Creation.  Grand Rapids, MI: Reformed Ecumenical Council, 1996

DeWitt, Calvin.  Caring for Creation: Responsible Stewardship of God’s Handiwork.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998

DeWitt, Calvin.  Earthwise: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues.  Grand Rapids, MI: CRC Publications, 1994

DeWitt, Calvin.  Earth-wise: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues.

Diamond, Jared.  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.  New York, NY: Viking, 2005

Diamond, Jared.  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.  New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 1997

Evans, David J. et al., eds.  Biblical Holism and Agriculture: Cultivating our Roots.  Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2003

Fagan, Brian.  The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850.  New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000

Fagan, Brian.  The Long Summer: How climate changed civilization.  NY: Basic Books, 2005

Fox, Matthew.  Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality Presented in Four Paths, Twenty-six Themes, and Two Questions.

Gottleib, Roger S.  A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future.

Goudzwaard, Bob et al.  Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for Confronting Global Crises.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007

Goudzwaard, Bob.  Beyond Poverty and Affluence: Toward an Economy of Care with a Twelve-step Program for Economic Recovery. 

Haarsma, Deborah.  Origins: A Reformed Look at Creation, Design, and Evolution.

Hall, Douglas John.  Imaging God: Dominion as Stewardship.  Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1986

Hillel, Daniel.  The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Hoezee, Scott.  Proclaim the Wonder: Engaging Science on Sunday.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003

Hoezee, Scott.  Remember Creation: God’s World of Wonder and Delight.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998

Jacobs, Nancy J.  Environment, Power, and Injustice: A South African History.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Jacobsen, Rowan.  Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis.

Koetje, David S., ed.  Living the Good Life on God’s Good Earth.  Grand Rapids, MI: Faith Alive, 2006

Leopold, Aldo.  A Sand County Almanac: with Essays on Conservation from Round River.   New York, NY: Ballatine Books, 1966  

Light, Joel.  A Field Guide to Christian Environmental Education: A Complete Guide to Creation Care.

Louv, Richard.  Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.

Martin-Schramm, James B. and Stivers, Robert.  Christian Environmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach (Ecology and Justice Series).

McKibben, Bill.  Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

Meyer, Art.  Earthkeepers: Environmental Perspectives on Hunger, Poverty, and Injustice.

Moltmann, Jurgen.  God in Creation (The Gifford Lectures, 1984-1985).

Nash, James A.  Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility.

Northcott, Michael S.  The Environment and Christian Ethics.  Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Pollan, Michael.  The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Food.  New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2006

Redekop, Calvin W.  Creation and the Environment: An Anabaptist Perspective on a Sustainable World.

Robinson, Tri and Jason Chatraw.  Saving God’s Green Earth: rediscovering the church’s responsibility to environmental stewardship.  Norcross, GA: Ampelon Publishing, 2006.

Santmire, H. Paul.  Brother Earth: Nature, God, and Ecology in time of Crisis.  New York, NY: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1970

Santmire, H. Paul.  Nature Reborn: The Ecological and Cosmic Promise of Christian Theology.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000

Santmire, H. Paul.  Ritualizing Nature: Renewing Christian Liturgy in a Time of Crisis (Theology and Sciences). 

Santmire, H. Paul.  The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology.  Philidelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1985

Schumacher, E. F.  Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.  New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1989

Schwarz, Hans.  Creation.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002

Scott, Lindy.  Christians, the Care of Creation, and Global Climate Change.

Sittler, Joseph.  Essays on Nature and Grace.  Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1972

Sittler, Joseph.  The Care of the Earth.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004

Sleeth, J. Matthew, MD.  Serve God and Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006

Van Dyke, Fred et al.  Redeeming Creation: The Biblical Basis for Environmental Stewardship.  Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996

Van Till, Howard J. et al.  Portraits of Creation: Biblical and Scientific Perspectives on the World’s Formation.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990

Wilkinson, Loren, ed.  Earthkeeping: Christian Stewardship of Natural Resources.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980

Wilkinson, Loren.  Earthkeeping in the Nineties: Stewardship of Creation.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas.  Until Justice and Peace Embrace.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983

Wright, Christopher J. H.  God’s People in God’s Land: Family, Land, and Property in the Old Testament.  Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990

Wright, Richard T.  Biology through the eyes of faith.  New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003

Wright, Richard T.  Biology through the eyes of faith.  New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1989

Motion Picture Media

When Heaven Meets Earth – DVD www.skunkfilms.com (52 min)

Between Heaven and Earth – DVD www.skunkfilms.com (27 min)

Powers of Ten – Films of Charles and Ray Eames (12 min)

The Queen of Trees – DVD (60 min approx)