Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love

            I live on a lake in the midst of the Chippewa National Forest in northern Minnesota.  One of the inspiring and wondrous things I get to do there is reflect on how my Christian faith is broadened and strengthened by the natural world around me.  I have enhanced my spiritual connection with nature through mountain backpack and boundary water trips, visits to over 20 national parks, and sitting in a fishing boat on a lake.

            All of that personal reflection allowed me to be in tune with the thesis of Johnson’s book, Ask the Beasts.  She asks the reader to envision a place where you can contemplate the heart and mind of God.  No problem for me.  She asks: “What is the theological meaning of the natural world of life?”  To even ask such a question sets the Christian on a totally different path of insight and understanding about faith in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

            She also states, “Deep affection shown in action on behalf of ecojustice becomes an indivisible part of life.”  And, “Love of the natural world is an intrinsic part of faith in God to practical and critical effect.”  In other words, if I simply sit on my dock and admire the natural world around me, I have not totally heard the voice of God calling me to act on my faith to care for and love all that God has given me.  Hence the book’s title, based on Job 12:7.  We need to listen to the voices of the beasts, the trees, all of nature, to understand and advocate for the entire creation. 

            Johnson divides the book into three parts, with chapter 1 being an introduction to the process.  Chapters 2-4 give a background to Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species.  If you are not scientifically inclined, don’t worry, it is a layperson’s version.  Then chapters 5-8 bring the Christian perspective into play with the Nicene Creed as the basis for Johnson’s arguments, saying that the creed “unspools a narrative of the living God intensely engaged with the world.”  Chapters 9-10 turn to the human equation in the dialog among God,  beasts, and flora.  We are creatures that can destroy the natural world or preserve and enjoy it.  We can regard ourselves as integral and part of the creation rather than separate and above it, and step up to protect our neighbors, the beasts.   “Ask the Beasts ends with this possibility as a hope, an obligation, and a prayer.”

I would recommend reading this challenging and insightful book out in the natural world.  Thus you will be inspired and motivated to ‘ask the beasts’. 

Rev. John Hanson