Let's Fly

I’ve come across a fascinating book: “When God Was A Bird” (2018) by Mark I Wallace, professor of religion and environmental studies at Swarthmore College.  What follows is part of a 2021 review of his book written by Nancy Menning, visiting scholar in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Ithaca College. 

(begin) In Christian scripture and iconography, the Holy Spirit is commonly depicted not in human form but as an element or entity of the other-than-human natural world. Consider these familiar examples. On the day of Pentecost, as told in Acts 2, the Spirit came upon the people as a violent wind and as “tongues, as of fire.” In all four gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism by John (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3; John 1), as Jesus rises from the waters of the River Jordan, the Spirit descends upon him as a dove. In Christian iconography as well, the dove is the preeminent symbol of the Spirit.

In When God Was a Bird, Mark Wallace invites Christians to reconsider the significance of creaturely depictions of the Spirit. He argues that Christianity arose as an enfleshed and enfeathered religion, characterized by a double incarnation into both the human form (Jesus) and the more-than-human natural world (the Spirit). The subsequent disenchantment of the natural world that has resulted in a Christianity centered solely on a transcendent sky-god has had grave consequences both for human well-being and for the broader ecologies within which—echoing Acts 17:28—all creation lives, moves, and has its being.

This book is an extended argument for Christian animism. By recognizing a form of consciousness that pervades all that exists, even the planet itself, animism counters the prevailing modern view of the world as merely material. Writings from the 19th and early 20th centuries that shaped both theology and the academic study of religion followed a settler-colonialist logic and mischaracterized the animism of indigenous peoples as “primitive,” seeking to contrast it with a more “civilized” Christianity. In recent decades, the scholarship of David Haberman, Graham Harvey, David Abram, and George Tinker has unmasked the colonial elitism of such racist ideologies and opened a space to reconsider the merits of animism as a way of perceiving and relating to the natural world. Animism is—and has always been—widespread, but Wallace focuses specifically on Christian animism. He argues that the presence of God in the more-than-human natural world is evident in Christian scriptures, the thought of Christian adherents throughout history, and contemporary Christian practice.

Framing this analysis and these claims are environmental concerns. Wallace asks not only whether early followers of the Christian tradition might have recognized God’s immanence in both human and more-than-human forms, but also whether an affirmative answer to that query might motivate more sustainable ways of living on a planet currently threatened by climate collapse, species extinctions, and innumerable other ecological woes. He begins his argument by considering scriptural evidence for the divine presence in natural elements and entities, drawing the reader’s attention to stories such as the burning bush of Exodus 3 and the whirlwind of Job 38–41. Wallace gives particular attention to avian representations, especially the Spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis 1 and the appearance of the dove (or pigeon) in all four gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism. (end)

Wallace makes good arguments, and, frankly, any interpretation that makes humanity give more emphasis on protection of our environment and the creatures within is extremely appealing.  The Spirit came down on all of us baptized.  Let’s use our wings and fly meaning let’s look at the earth from above, cry tears for its continued destruction, and then take steps to protect what we have left.  

Deacon David Pierce