MIDWIFERY AS A MODEL FOR ECOLOGICAL ETHICS: EXPANDING ARTHUR PEACOCKE'S MODELS OF “MAN‐IN‐CREATION”

Gloria L. Schaab; Gloria L. Schaab

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00487.x

Research Articles
MIDWIFERY AS A MODEL FOR ECOLOGICAL ETHICS: EXPANDING ARTHUR PEACOCKE'S MODELS OF “MAN‐IN‐CREATION”

Abstract

In Creation and the World of Science (1979) scientist‐theologian Arthur Peacocke asks what the role of humanity might be in relation to creation if conceived within the scientific perspective that favors the theological paradigm of the panentheistic God‐world relationship. Deeming roles such as dominion and steward as liable to distortion toward a hierarchical understanding of humanity's relation to the rest of creation, Peacocke proposes seven other roles to express the proper relationship of humanity to the cosmos in panentheistic relation to its Creator. Although each of these models has merit within a panentheistic paradigm, Peacocke and the paradigm itself suggest that the panentheistic model of God in relation to an evolving cosmos may be most effectively imaged through a model of female procreativity. In keeping with this proposal, I develop the understanding of humanity's ecologically ethical role in relation to the evolving cosmos in terms of the midwife to the process of procreation. I evaluate the efficacy of the midwife as a paradigm for ecological ethics by means of several criteria, including the propositions of the Earth Charter, “a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century” (Earth Initiative 2000).

Keywords

ecology, God‐world relationship, panentheism, cosmology, midwife, ethics, immanence, procreativity, Earth Charter, creation, images of God, transcendence, Arthur Peacocke, evolution

How to Cite

Schaab, G., (2007) “MIDWIFERY AS A MODEL FOR ECOLOGICAL ETHICS: EXPANDING ARTHUR PEACOCKE'S MODELS OF “MAN‐IN‐CREATION””, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 42(2), 487–498. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00487.x

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References

Citizens for Midwifery.2005a. “Midwives Model of Care .” http://cfmidwifery.org.

Citizens for Midwifery.2005b. “What to Expect from a Caregiver Who Provides the Midwifery Model of Care .” http://cfmidwifery.org/mmoc/brochure_text.aspx.

Earth Charter Initiative.2000. “Earth Charter .” http://www.earthcharter.org.

Edwards, Denis. 1995. “The Discovery of Chaos and the Retrieval of the Trinity ” In Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, ed. Robert J.Russell, Nancey C.Murphy, and Arthur R.Peacocke, 157–75. Berkeley : Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Johnson, Elizabeth A. 1993. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse New York : Crossroad.

Kasper, Walter. 1983. The God of Jesus Christ London : SCM Press.

LaCugna, Catherine M. 1991. God For Us: The Trinity and Christian Life San Francisco : HarperCollins.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 1971. Science and the Christian Experiment London : Oxford Univ. Press.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 1979. Creation and the World of Science: The Bampton Lectures 1978 Oxford : Clarendon.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 1986. God and the New Biology London : J. M. Dent and Sons.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 1993. Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming—Natural, Divine, and Human.Revised and expanded ed. Minneapolis : Augsburg Fortress.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 2001. Paths from Science Towards God: The End of all our Exploring Oxford : Oneworld.

Peacocke, Arthur R. 2004. “Articulating Gods Presence in and to the World Unveiled by the Sciences .” In In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being: Panentheistic Reflections on God's Presence in a Scientific World, ed. PhilipClayton and ArthurPeacocke, 137–54. Grand Rapids , Mich. : Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Schaab, Gloria L. In press. The Creative Suffering of the Triune God: An Evolutionary Theology. New York : Oxford Univ. Press.

Wheatley, Margaret. 1992. Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe San Francisco : Berrett‐Koehler.

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Gloria L. Schaab (Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science)

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Volume 42 • Issue 2 • June 2007

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Pages	487–498

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Published	2007-06-01

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00487.x

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