The current environmental crisis has caused the suffering and death of all kinds of species of flora and fauna—from old families of trees to new spectrums of fish, from herds of bipeds to troves of flowers. However, this paper is not about the problem of the destruction of creation, nor how theology responds to this crisis; there are a multitude of texts that already address these problems. Instead, I want to write about the role of humanity in the world and how theology responds to that role. The human part of creation has suffered in the wake of environmental crisis, even as we contribute to this destruction. Humanity has forgotten what role we play (and even that we play one at all) in the larger system of creation. Our role exists in the system of creation regardless of the health of the system; but we will see just how the human role has impacted this crisis of creation. I want to acknowledge this environmental crisis as the symptom that points to a deeper disease. In order to look at these symptoms with hope for a healthier future, I will use Ecofeminism and Family Systems Theory to illuminate the role that human writers of Scripture have interpreted that God gives to humanity in the creation stories of Genesis. We have a responsibility to the world regardless of how bad the symptoms are, and because they are so bad. As we approach the environmental crisis and our role in it, it is easy to lose track of the theological problem embedded within the crisis. Our lack of responsibility—born out of not understanding the balance between connected yet separate from creation—is a mark of our sin, and a sign of our need for God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ.
