Searching for a Biblical Worldview: From an Ecofeminist Theological Perspective
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International Journal of Social Science Studies
Vol. 3, No. 5; September2015
Fam e ISSN 2324-8033 E-ISSN 2324-8041
Published by Redfame Publishing
URL: http://ijsss.redfame.com
Searching for a Biblical Worldview:
From an Ecofeminist Theological Perspective
loanna Sahinidoul
1Wales University Trinity Saint David, 16 Lazeon str, 11741 Athens, Greece.
Correspondence: loanna Sahinidou, Wales University Trinity Saint David, 16 Lazeon str, 11741 Athens, Greece.
Received: May 4, 2015 Accepted: May 19, 2015 Available online: August 4, 2015
doi: 10.11114/ijsss.v3i5.1003 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v3i5.1003
Abstract
The paper draws from my doctoral thesis (Sahinidou I., 2014)1. I make my case for an Christological perichoresis as an
evolutionary step further in the direction of ecofeminist theology. God is present in all things by virtue of their being
created. A few discussed paradigms by theologians help us see whether a non-anthropocentric biblical view, counter to
dominion could be possible. If Gen. 1.26-28 is isolated, we may think that dominion is the normative biblical orientation
for human-earth relations (Rasmussen, 2000).2 Yet, a theology of creation must be situated within the context of the
entire Bible.
A holistic theology realizes that together with all beings, we must live responsibly. This perspective can evoke the
religious sense that every being is valuable and that the whole forms a unity. A retrieved biblical, patristic, ecological
view of the scheme of things and our place in it can be a call for us to know the world neither anthropocentrically, nor as
isolated beings, but displace humans as the central goal of creation and re-position them as partners in its process. New
science helps us realize our cosmic interrelated being and a sense of the whole (Eaton, 2005).3 The paper was presented
during the Conference: ECOTHEE June 2015, Orthodox Academy of Crete.
Keywords: Anthropocentrism, dominion, Christology perichoresis, interrelatedness, creation.
1. Introduction
How did evil enter creation since God saw all that he had made and it was very good (Gen. 1.31)? The verses [Adam,
said God] Cursed is the ground because of you (Gen. 3.17b-18) tell us that the earth is cursed, after the fall because of
humanity. What is creation's future? The verse Romans 8.20 creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice
but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God brings hope for creation to be liberated along with the children
of God.
2. An Christological, Non Anthropocentric Worldview
flcpi6pncip (Liddell &Scott, 1902)4names the dynamic process of making room for another around oneself, or to extend
one's self round about. I focus on Christological Perichoresis that is the co-inherence in Christ of the human and divine
natures for the bridge they build between the Creator and creation. Trinitarian inter-relationships go further than the
cosmological scientific mode of relatedness, bearing an Christological message for wilful openness towards the 'other',
when Logos was incarnated (Grey, 2003).' I reclaim the patristic Christological use of perichoresis to show how we could
bring together different entities, such as God and nature, look at them in unity, as the one person of Christ, and
acknowledge the perichoresis between divine and human, divine and nature, while their identities are not confused.
Christological perichoresis supports the idea that the whole of creation will be included in God's recreated cosmos
responding to the redeeming power of Christ who became flesh, entering the web of life as a creature. In my doctoral
1 Sahinidou I. (2014). What Hope for the Suffering Ecosystems of our Planet? The Contextualization of Christological Perichoresis for
the Contemporary Ecocris is. Frankfirt: Peter Lang.
2 Rasmussen L.L. (2000). Earth Community Earth Ethics. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis. p.229.
3 Eaton H. (2005). Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies. New York: T & T Clark International. pp.93-102.
4 Liddell H & Scott R. (1902). 'perichoreo' Dictionary ofthe Greek Language v. 3 L-P. Athens: Konstantinidis. p.570.
Grey M. (2003). Sacred Longings. London: SCM Press. pp.72-74.
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Searching for a Biblical Worldview: From an Ecofeminist Theological Perspective
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