oldworld

Old World Ideas

Western tradition:

Wilderness understood as a place where people feel they don't belong
in early thinking wilderness was an evil place, the opposite of paradise which was a safe, fruitful garden
the goal of civilization is to replace wilderness with controlled nature, to conquer nature

In the Bible, wilderness=desert

lack of rain is punishment from God, when God gives blessing it is often in the form of plentiful water
the desert is land cursed by God, an evil place
the Garden of Eden is the opposite of a desolate wilderness
the view of wilderness in the Bible is not entirely negative
when Moses leads his people through the wilderness, wilderness takes on the meaning not just of the opposite of the promised land but also of a difficult journey that purifies people to serve God. For the first time wilderness becomes a place where you draw close to God, through hardship.
so here is a somewhat positive view of wilderness, as a place of hardship and temptation, but that hardship is a preparation for doing something good
at first being a Christian was a dangerous thing because of persecution
once Christianty became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the early 300s, people went looking for new ways to show commitment
these ideas grow stronger in the Christian tradition in the middle ages
in the early middle ages hermits and later monks went to the wilderness to escape corrupt society
desert fathers video (and mothers)
St. Simon Stylite lived for 32 years on top of a column
many hermits went and lived in the desert, strengthening the idea that wilderness is a place where you get closer to God
church brought hermits together into monasteries, also located in the wilderness or remote areas
so now there are a lot of stories about how holy people live in the wilderness
religion was a key influence at this time on how people understood the world

icon showing the creation of the animals

What other impact did Christianity have that is relevant to environmental history

What did religion teach people about what the relationship should be between humans and nature
ranging from worshiping nature to conquering nature

Dominion over nature:

Genesis 1:28 (humans have just been created) "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (that is from the King James version--the New International version says "rule over" instead of "have dominion over")
people have traditionally understood the bible to say that the earth is there for human beings to exploit--dominion=to rule over, to be the king of
Lynn White: "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis"

the environmental crisis is the fault of Christianity
Christianity says nature is there for human beings to rule, to exploit
human beings see their goal as to control nature
as technology has made us better at that we have gone too far
we think we can control nature, but can we?

Lynn White may not be right in blaming Christianity
control of nature means we use it for personal gain as humans--that comes as much from capitalism as from Christianity
so maybe it is capitalism that is to blame for the misuse of nature--we use resources for individual profit rather than worrying about the common good
all of these ideas see wilderness as there for human beings to conquer
nature is there for us to use responsibility, to protect as well as exploit
another possible approach is to read the Bible differently: having dominion over the earth and we need to be good stewards, take better care of it
evangelicals and other conservative Christians increasingly see concern about the environment as a Christian cause because we should be good stewards of God's creation
a more radical version of this is that if God is in everything the earth is God's body and we should treat it with respect (Creation spirituality)

Other ways Christianity affected ideas about nature:

Pagan views often put Gods in nature, you better not try to control it
God is no longer in nature--nature is something you can use rather than something holy
it is fundamental in the long tradition of Christianity that nature is not holy, and Christianity has sometimes drifted into the idea that this physical world is evil and only heaven/the spiritual world is good

Christianity was more favorable (historically) to the ideas of control/exploitation of nature than other religions
Christianity also encouraged the development of technology

Christianity ended up encouraging technology through monasteries
monks read books and also dealt with practical things--unlike ancient tradition that intellectuals didn't get their hands dirty
monasteries promoted the idea that hard work brings us closer to God
developed labor saving devices because they spent a lot of time in prayer and also had to get work done to survive
monasteries invented clocks, spread use of water power, became a center of technology in Middle Ages
work might be a way of getting closer to God, but Christians came to value technology (this wasn't true other places)
so on a practical level control of nature was associated with Christianity

St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai desert

Even in the Renaissance, Christian views were mixed about nature
Taking joy in nature was suspect--one should focus on heavenly rather than earthly things

The renaissance writer Petrach climbed a mountain with his brother and stood dazed at the beautiful view. He opened a book he carried with him (St. Augustine's Confessions) and read that men should not take joy in scenery but instead focus on heavenly things and he felt ashamed of admiring the beauty of nature.

There was a tendency in Christianity (coming from Greek thought) to see the spiritual as good and the physical as evil, even though scripture says God created the physical world and said it was good

When the pilgrims arrived in Plymouth they described what they saw as a "hideous and desolate wilderness" (William Bradford)

conquest of wilderness was the goal

conquering wilderness was a war of good against evil
clearing forested land to plant crops was terribly hard (read James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers)

cut down all those trees
how to get rid of the wood you don't need--burn the dead wood
sold the ashes for potash and lye for making candles and glass
work around the stumps
land was full of rocks you remove

there was a fear that Europeans who went into the wilderness would become uncivilized, like the indians

settlers in North America were worried the people back home would look down on them
took pride in civilizing the wilderness
they saw land as something to own and organize
their goal is to get from chaos to order (not to be swallowed up by the disorder of the wilderness)

Even in 1830 a congressman said "There can be no doubt that the Creator intended the earth should be reclaimed from a state of nature and cultivated." (p. 31)
wilderness was seen as evil to be conquered
it might be questionable to take pride in getting rich, but settlers could take pride in civilizing the wilderness

This page written and copyright Pamela E. Mack
last updated 9/25/2009
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