Life and value: What ecology may mean for Christian ethics and faith
by Simmons, Frederick Vernon, Ph.D., YALE UNIVERSITY, 2010, 289 pages; 3415345

Abstract:

In this dissertation I investigate the import of ecology for Christian cosmology, ethics, and conceptions of salvation. I begin by arguing that ecology gives Christians reason to think that human beings are created mortal. I then claim that if Christians conceive human beings as created mortal, they can no longer consistently maintain that all disvalue is evil since Christians deny that creation intrinsically harbors evil yet death and the decline that often precedes it are generally disvalues for those that endure them. Conventional Christian value theory, however, is binary, and so it deems all disvalue evil. Accordingly I conclude that Christians who embrace an ecologically attractive cosmology should replace their conventional value theory with one that is tripartite. I introduce such a tripartite value theory by distinguishing qualitatively between those disvalues that are necessary for the sustainability of ecologically ordered systems, which I call bad, and those disvalues that are not, which I denominate evil. Although this remedy disassociates evil from ecologically attractive conceptions of creation, it also reveals that these conceptions render organisms as created to depend upon processes that are bad for them. Christians have generally not understood human beings' relationship to disvalue in this way, and so I reinterpret two central Christian doctrines in light of that change. First, I suggest a tripartite account of moral obligation that prohibits doing evil, imperfectly obligates doing good, and with qualification permits doing bad. Next, I advance a vision of salvation that depicts God as delivering from evil and enabling all organisms to live well amidst the bad. Both proposals alter conventional Christian positions on these topics and thus, in conjunction with ecologically attractive cosmology and tripartite value theory, cumulatively indicate ecology's potential Christian significance.

 
AdviserGene Outka
SchoolYALE UNIVERSITY
SourceDAI/A 71-07, p. , Aug 2010
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsPhilosophy of Religion; Environmental philosophy; Ethics; Philosophy; Theology
Publication Number3415345
Adobe PDF Access the complete dissertation:
 

» Find an electronic copy at your library.
  Use the link below to access a full citation record of this graduate work:
  http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl%3furl_ver=Z39.88-2004%26res_dat=xri:pqdiss%26rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation%26rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3415345
  If your library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database, you may be entitled to a free electronic version of this graduate work. If not, you will have the option to purchase one, and access a 24 page preview for free (if available).

About ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
With over 2.3 million records, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. It is the database of record for graduate research.

The database includes citations of graduate works ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Of the 2.3 million graduate works included in the database, ProQuest offers more than 1.9 million in full text formats. Of those, over 860,000 are available in PDF format. More than 60,000 dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the ProQuest Web site - http://www.proquest.com - or call ProQuest Hotline Customer Support at 1-800-521-3042.