From 1984 to 1991 she held various positions with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., dealing with water use and water quality. She assisted in drafting legislation and worked on the 1991 reauthorization of the Clean Water Act.
Kirkpatrick returned to Maine in 1991 to become director of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureaus of Land and Water Quality. In 1999 she was appointed DEP Commissioner during the administration of Gov. Angus King, a post she held until 2003.
In changing her career path to enter the ministry, Kirkpatrick has not forsaken her environmental ethos. Her master’s thesis at Harvard was on “incarnational ecology,” a growing field of theological scholarship. A revised version of her study is published in the current issue of the Anglican Theological Review, in which she addresses planetary crisis as a challenge to the church, moving from scripture and received tradition toward an ethics of common cause.
I did not waste money to read the whole thing she wrote in ATR, the summary is more than enough. The more I see the more I think that the ecology movement is pagan worship of mother earth. I am not suggesting we go back to where we would have rivers on fire because of the waste that local plants would dump. Earth is God’s creation and we should treat it with care.
On the other hand ecology does not replace Scripture or Tradition. Listening to some recent discussions, reason seems to have little place in ecology discussions.
Post-modernists would have us believe that there is no truth, just a multiplicity of viewpoints. But try saying that you do not believe in global warming and the roof falls in on you. It is strange how, as genuine theological orthodoxy wanes, environmentalism becomes the mantra of our times.
I am a member of the Maine Diocese. I ahave decided to cross the Tiber. This post reinforces my decision.
This is a summary of the ATR article in question:
In an age where ecological devastation threatens our very existence, Christian theology can send us mixed messages about our relation to the earth. Revisiting the doctrine of the Incarnation and the two natures of Jesus as explicated in the Council of Chalcedon, we find rich resources for claiming an incarnational ecology. A non-anthropocentric look at Scripture reveals that God’s covenant is with all creation, and that humans and creation belong together. The Incarnation is the fulfillment of this covenant, and of God’s love for all life. Christ gathers all to himself, and all life partakes of redemption. In the Incarnation we are called to participate in God’s ongoing creative activity in the earth’s redemption and renewal.
Perhaps we ought to read the whole thing before opining. But I want to row back a little from my comment earlier, because it might have been unfair in relation to this article. Certainly this is a lady with remarkable credentials and achievements. And regarding the article summary, my creaking memory tells me that Irenaeus was saying something not dissimilar in his doctrine of re-capitulation. We might also remember Colossians 1.15-20. And finally, although I find the whole environmental and globalization thing awash with contradictions (eg young people ranting about globalization while communicating via cell phone and internet) there is no doubt that this is an area in which many young people are interested, so perhaps this speaks to them.
New TEC motto – “Gaia ‘R Us.”