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Adelaide academic Professor Norman Habel holds religion accountable for its contribution to environmental degradation in his latest book An Inconvenient Text: Is a Green Reading of the Bible Possible?

A Religious Studies Professor at Flinders University in Adelaide, Habel describes the Bible as “an inconvenient text” and readily admits that key passages have provided justification for humans to wound and abuse the planet.

“The Bible is a major force in Western thought and tradition but it has certainly not been read as a work that immediately connects us with nature,” he says. “In the past, the Bible has generally not made Christians green in their attitude to creation - just the opposite! Much of the Bible has been used to justify our domination, devaluation and destruction of the planet.”

Professor Habel highlights apathy as a major issue: “The Arctic and Antarctic regions of the Earth are slowly melting and the oceans are rising. Toxic fumes are still choking our atmosphere. Old-growth forests continue to be cleared. Within twenty-five years, the greenhouse gases we emit are likely to double. The environmental crisis is escalating and to date relatively little has been done to stem the forces of global warming. There has been considerable talk about sustaining the life of the planet, but relatively little action.”

Habel identifies his task as moving beyond a bid to “uncover the demons of the past” to calling scholars, students, church leaders and community groups to a new vision of how things might change.

“My concern is not simply the future of my grandchildren; my concern is also for this planet called Earth,” he says.

“To be green is to have an empathy with Earth which is grounded in the reality that I and every other human being are children of Earth. For millions of years, all forms of life - including humans - have been nurtured by the elements and impulses of Earth.”

“I am an integral part of the living web called creation. I taste the same salt water as the dolphin. I depend on the trees for oxygen. I celebrate life with the blue wren in my garden. And I suffer with the soil when it is polluted by nuclear waste.”

An Inconvenient Text will be launched at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas on 11 July 2009.

Publication details: Norman Habel, An Inconvenient Test: Is a Green Reading of the Bible Possible? (Adelaide: ATF Press, 2009).

Review Copies: Australian Theological Forum Limited / ATF Press, 34 Lipsett Terrace, Brooklyn Park, South Australia, 5032. Phone: 08 8354 2299.