Recently retired Lutheran campus pastor Ron Rude has launched a book exploring the connections between the Christian faith and natural sciences, Amending the Christian Story: The Natural Sciences as a Window into Grounded Faith and Sustainable Living.
The book was published in October by Wipf and Stock and contends that the current versions of the Christian faith are inadequate, and more than this, are possibly fueling humanity’s ecologically disastrous decisions.
“Major Christian doctrines need amending,” said Rude in a statement. “These include original sin, dominion-ism, the atonement theories, and eschatology (end times). Along with this, the historic and current harm done by these errant ideologies to God’s creation, including humanity, needs deep mending.”
Part of the book’s insights is that we should no longer view ourselves as distinct from and even above nature, but need to learn to live respectfully and within the ecosystems and communities of life in God’s household. He asserts that if we neglect to do this, we will be incapable of understanding what God is up to.
Rude recently retired as an ELCA campus pastor at the University of Arizona and now dedicates his time to teaching and writing. He espouses an interesting concept of Abel Christianity as opposed to ‘Cain’ Christianity. Against the backdrop of Genesis 4, Abel Christianity is in distinct opposition to anthropocentric or ‘Cain’ Christianity of our time that includes the reality of our shared irresponsible disregard for our shared home.
Susan is an author with a long-time interest in religion and science. She currently edits Covalence, the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technology’s online magazine. She has written articles in The Lutheran and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science newsletter. Susan is a board member for the Center for Advanced Study of Religion and Science, the supporting organization for the Zygon Center and the Zygon Journal. She also co-wrote Our Bodies Are Selves with Dr. Philip Hefner and Dr. Ann Pederson.
