The Animating Spirit of Life: a Pneumatological Perspective on Ecological Spirituality

Graham Buxton
Adjunct Professor
Fuller Theological Seminary

Abstract: To live responsibly as human beings within the created order is to move beyond a purely utilitarian ethic and to embrace a spirituality that acknowledges the wonder and mystery of creation as ‘sacred reality,’ a perspective that is integral to Aboriginal spirituality in Australia. Writing from a Western perspective, and drawing from the disciplines of contemporary physics, ecological hermeneutics, spirituality and ‘imaginative naturalism,’ a continuity is proposed between the Spirit who enlivens and sanctifies us in our relation to God and the Spirit who enlivens us in our relation to the created world.