“Bless the Lord, All You Works of the Lord”rnNature and the Incarnationrnby Scott P. RichertrnIn one of the first episodes of the latest Star Trek series, Enterprise,rnthe crew, a few weeks ont from Earth on the ship’srnmaiden voyage, has become homesick. Suddenly, an inhabitablernplanet appears off of the port side. Tliere are no signs of humanoidrnlife, but the captain sends a small team down to gatherrninformahon and to grab a little shore leave. What they find is astonisiiing:rnThe planet is a veritable paradise, full of lush forests,rnstunning waterfalls, vast savannahs, and a remarkable array ofrnEarth-like wildlife.rnBut everything is not what it seems. By the team’s firstrnevening on the planet, a series of strong electrical storms forcesrnthe crew to take refuge in a cave, where an hallucinogenic substancernbegins to affect their sanity. Ultimately, the team mustrnflee the planet to avoid killing one another. By forcing them tornflee, the planet has rid itself of the alien invaders and restored itsrnnatural balance. Paradise, it seems, is no place for man.rnWelcome to the brave new world of modem environmentalism,rnin which man is no more than a bacterium against whichrnNature—namely, everything other than man—must generaternantibodies in order to protect itself. To be fair to the writers andrnproducers of Eriterprise, their story is told from the perspecfivernof the crew members, not from that of the planet. But the visionrnof Nature as a closed, idyllic system that man enters only as anrnalien has become a mainstay of modern environmentalistrnthought.rnhi this vision, what room is there for God? As long as He isrnnot the Chrisfian God, perhaps more than we might think. Afterrnall, the idea of a closed system that can protect itself againstrninvasive aliens goes well beyond strictly materialist evolufionaryrntheories, which explain change in a species as a means oiadaptingrnto changes taking place in external condifions, not of preventingrnor reversing such changes. While adaptation can be cx-rnScott P. Richert is the executive editor of Ghronicles.rnplained through the simple application of physical laws, preventingrnor reversing external changes obviously requires an activernintelligence to keep the closed system in balance. This logicallyrnleads to something like the Gaia hypothesis, in which thernEarth is viewed as a quasi-organism, able to respond to threats tornits existence in the way a sentient being would. The rise of antibiotic-rnresistant bacteria, plagues, even droughts and hurricanesrnare viewed, by the same people who would condemn PatrnRobertson for suggesting that AIDS might be the GhristianrnGod’s retribution against homosexuals, as Earth’s attempts tornprotect herself from overpopulation and environmental destruction.rnThis environmentalist vision, obviously, has no roomrnfor the Ghrisfian understanding of God. After all, if man is anrninvader who disrupts the system, then what is the God Who becamernman? Despite claims to the contrary, any environmentalistrnethic that views man as wholly other than Nature cannotrnbe Ghrisfian.rnGonservafive Christians have responded to anti-Ghristian environmentalismrnby advancing a “Judeo-Ghristian” understandingrnof the relationship between man and Nature based almostrnentirely upon the Greation story in Genesis. Wliile the Creationrnstory makes it clear that man is not only an integral part ofrnNature but the very pinnacle of Creation, the emphasis onrnman’s dominion over Nahire leaves a very important questionrnunanswered: How is man to exercise that dominion? The answerrnto that question goes to the heart of the Ghristian vision ofrnnahirc, distinguishing it fi-om those of Judaism and Islam.rn”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withrnGod, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginningrnwith God. All things were made by him: and without him wasrnmade nothing that was made And the Word was made flesh,rnand dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it werernof the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”rn(John 1:1-3, 14). In a few short sentences. Saint John providesrnDECEMBER 2001/21rnrnrn