All God's Creatures: A Theology of Creation

The predominant “stewardship model” of creation is the result of an intentional effort to correct approaches that reinforce human sovereignty and the resulting environmental degradation. However, as All God’s Creatures argues, the stewardship model actually does not offer a correction but rather reinscribes many of the very same pitfalls. After close analysis of the stewardship model, this book identifies scriptural, theological, and philosophical sources to support the adoption of a “community of creation” paradigm. Drawing on postcolonial theory, this book proposes the concept of “planetarity” as a framework for conceiving the relationship between human and nonhuman creation, and the Creator, in a new way. This theoretical framework is grounded by a retrieval of the medieval Franciscan theological and philosophical tradition. The result is what can be called a postcolonial Franciscan theology of creation imagined in terms of planetarity, providing a constructive and nonanthropocentric response to the need for a new conceptualization of the doctrine of creation.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: The Rise and Fall of Stewardship Chapter 1: The Development of the Dominion Model of Creation Chapter 2: Stewardship: Beyond the Dominion Approach Chapter 3: Critiquing the Stewardship Model of Creation Part II: Resources for a Community of Creation Theology Chapter 4: Scriptural Resources for a Community of Creation Theology Chapter 5: Theological Resources for a Community of Creation Theology Chapter 6: Franciscan Resources for a Community of Creation Theology Conclusion Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
Daniel P. Horan, OFM is assistant professor of systematic theology and spirituality at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Review :
All God's Creatures: A Theology of Creation is well worth the effort to see something of the breadth of thinking that is being used to resource a new perspective that might just save the planet. Cautious scholars as well as any patient reader seeking a thoughtful consideration of what Thomas Berry calls “nature’s capacity to praise” will find in All God’s Creatures valuable rewards. The theological reader will come away from this fine resource with a heightened awareness of the troubling habits of mind that have allowed theology to stunt our vision of creation. The volume should spark considerable hope that a newly liberated moral imagination has the power to develop a more adequate (and perhaps planet-saving) theology of creation. Daniel P. Horan’s groundbreaking study offers a much-needed critique of how biblical scholars’ and theologians’ interpretations and understandings of Genesis 1−2 have often led to a deepening of anthropocentrism and hierarchy in our contemporary world. This book provides a nice historical review of the influences that shaped the dominion and stewardship models of creation, as well as an excellent introduction to the kinship model that he offers as their replacement. As such, it is a useful text for anyone delving into these topics for the first time. Dan Horan has written a comprehensive creation theology for the 21st century. He brings the best of Franciscan theology into dialogue with the contemporary world in a way that is consonant with Pope Francis’s Laudato Si. This work will be treasured by all who seek a new 'planetarity,' that is, a unified creation bound in love and flowing from the heart of God. All God’s Creatures marks a major step forward in developing a theology of creation responsive to the ecological challenges we face. With extraordinary scholarly range and interpretive daring, Daniel Horan makes a clear and convincing case for a kinship model of creation that highlights our deep filiation with the 'other-than-human' world. Attentive to the complexities and ambiguities of the Christian tradition, yet ever on the lookout for sources of creative retrieval within it, Horan exemplifies the very best of constructive theological work today. A significant achievement. Daniel Horan’s All God’s Creatures is a challenging, controversial and creative contribution to ecological theology. It offers a robust critique of dominion and stewardship models for understanding the human in relation to the rest of God’s creation, and employs a wide range of resources that build systematically towards a community of creation paradigm. These resources include not only the work of biblical and theological scholars, but also post-colonial theory and the Franciscan theological tradition.