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Gospel According to the Earth, The: Why the Good Book Is a Green Book
As an emergency room doctor, Matthew Sleeth saw a disturbing increase in asthma, autoimmune diseases, cancers, and other environmentally related disease. One slow night in the ER, Sleeth picked up a Gideon's Bible in the waiting room. Although raised in a Christian home, he had long ago abandoned his childhood beliefs. Reading the Gospels that night, he found both the spiritual and environmental answers he had been seeking. As a result, the Sleeth family took an accounting of their lifestyle, drastically reduced their reliance on electricity and fossil fuels, and began sharing their journey with others. In THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE EARTH Sleeth uses the Bible as a teaching mechanism, retelling the often radically counter-culture Bible stories that motivated his environmental journey and showing Christians how to get behind the issue. The Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us about how our transportation choices affect our global neighbors. The prophet Daniel calls to question our dietary habits. And the story of Noah addresses key issues for life on Earth: how do we relate to the Creator, to others in the human community, and to the rest of the natural world? With passion and faith, Sleeth provides a new green lens through which we can read the Bible to discover answers to our biggest questions about the environment and how to care for it.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
17 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Zondervan
1,676 books100 followersZondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, and Editorial Vida. Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version (NIV) Bible in North America.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 13, 2020
I caught this book on a Kindle deal. I'd always kind of wanted to read a book by Matthew Sleeth, as he seems to be the best writer out there on Christianity and the care for the environment. This book was somewhere between okay and good. The quotes from theologians and saints and others on the environment, as well as from scripture, are gems. Also, the lists of ideas for action at the end of each chapter are helpful and thoughtful.
All that said, if you know the Bible well, this book is a lot of fluff. I quickly skimmed through pages of his telling of Bible stories, as well as large block quotes from scripture. That certainly made my read go faster, as I was skimming much of it. So the fault is mine as I expected a bit more theology, though the title itself says, "Why the good book is a green book." Sleeth succeeds in this.
Overall, if you are curious about what the Bible says about creation care, this would be a fantastic book for you. If you aren't familiar with the Bible, you'll learn a lot. If you know the Bible, you can get through it quickly and note the high points.
All that said, if you know the Bible well, this book is a lot of fluff. I quickly skimmed through pages of his telling of Bible stories, as well as large block quotes from scripture. That certainly made my read go faster, as I was skimming much of it. So the fault is mine as I expected a bit more theology, though the title itself says, "Why the good book is a green book." Sleeth succeeds in this.
Overall, if you are curious about what the Bible says about creation care, this would be a fantastic book for you. If you aren't familiar with the Bible, you'll learn a lot. If you know the Bible, you can get through it quickly and note the high points.
October 25, 2012
This book caught my eye on the library shelf, and I began it with contradictory thoughts: a desire to agree with the author as well as a bit of skepticism (that turned into a healthy skepticisim on the first page). However, I stuck with it for a few pages and quickly decided that Sleeth has a terrific argument. Natural conservatives are going to look at the title and be suspicious, but his philosophy lines up beautifully with a lot of what religious conservatives believe: i.e., too much consumerism, too much of what he calls "iGod." He puts forth arguments that seem on the first level to have nothing at all to do with conservation and the environment: Sabbath, sacrifice, community, and so on--but convincingly brings together the ways in which a more traditional definition of Christian life encourages, even demands, stewardship of creation. For instance, when you only have a big snowstorm every couple of years, why on earth does everyone need their own snowblower? Borrow your neighbor's! This particular argument really rang true for me, based on our current experience. Our neighbor has a snowblower and is always willing to loan it out, while we have an electric lawn edger and it is used by two neighbors. Perfectly rational, and builds relationships.
At the end of every chapter, Sleeth includes a list of action items, most of them small, and I was gratified to see that we already do about half of them. This brings up perhaps the most important point--he's not talking politics, he's talking person to person. You can be suspicious of political intervention on environmental issues; he's not trying to talk you into it. He's trying to get you to think about how you, personally, can make changes to impact the environment in a positive way. And that, in my opinion, makes this a book all Christians should read.
At the end of every chapter, Sleeth includes a list of action items, most of them small, and I was gratified to see that we already do about half of them. This brings up perhaps the most important point--he's not talking politics, he's talking person to person. You can be suspicious of political intervention on environmental issues; he's not trying to talk you into it. He's trying to get you to think about how you, personally, can make changes to impact the environment in a positive way. And that, in my opinion, makes this a book all Christians should read.
June 25, 2023
More like 3.5 stars, but I rounded down because I feel it’s a bit dated (published in 2010, and a lot of the recs come from an even older text).
I did enjoy hearing about climate change and our role in restoring the Earth as Christians. He balances on the line of advocating for corporate accountability and also noting the role that individual responsibility has in climate work. Feeling very inspired by the call present in my own vocation to do this work. This is the first on my list of many books on climate recommended by coworkers, so be looking for more from me soon!
“We need to change the way we live for the sake of preserving creation. We need to do things that are inconvenient to help our global neighbors. And we need to invest in new infrastructure to leave clean air and pure water for future generations of God's humanity and all of his creatures.”
Amen and amen.
I did enjoy hearing about climate change and our role in restoring the Earth as Christians. He balances on the line of advocating for corporate accountability and also noting the role that individual responsibility has in climate work. Feeling very inspired by the call present in my own vocation to do this work. This is the first on my list of many books on climate recommended by coworkers, so be looking for more from me soon!
“We need to change the way we live for the sake of preserving creation. We need to do things that are inconvenient to help our global neighbors. And we need to invest in new infrastructure to leave clean air and pure water for future generations of God's humanity and all of his creatures.”
Amen and amen.
February 21, 2014
I just read the introduction and already I'm loving this book. I don't often read two books at once; I like to finish one before I start another. I'm in the middle of reading the Buccaneers, but when my hubby gave me this book yesterday, I simply couldn't wait to tear into it. It combines two of my great passions; God's Word and the beautiful planet that He gave us. I will be surprised if I'm not finished with this book very soon.
August 11, 2020
Sometimes Sleeth's use of particular scripture verses is a bit shallow and misleading but, in general, his wide sweep approach to scripture and why the Good Book is a Green Book is solid, persuasive, and powerful.
The tips of how to be more green are great, too, especially because they're not all "practical"--some are spiritual in nature but, in doing them, will lead to a more green life, which is part of the whole book's argument.
The tips of how to be more green are great, too, especially because they're not all "practical"--some are spiritual in nature but, in doing them, will lead to a more green life, which is part of the whole book's argument.
January 22, 2020
It was good. I like the pages that gave examples to try. I lost interest towards the end but I also had another book I wanted to start.
February 21, 2011
I quit reading after chapter 5.
This sounded like a good book and had a decent beginning, but then turned out to be very overly dramatized and not really what I had expected it to be. The author's stories like how we should hang dries our clothes to save energy (because he and his family do) are not always applicable (ex: Texas humidity = mildewed clothes) and some of the information is totally inaccurate.
I was initially annoyed with all of the personal stories. That's not what I wanted. Give me scripture. Oftentimes when there wass scripture, it was either repeated ad nauseum or really didn't make sense to the chapter and was sort of like the author pulling at strings to make it fit. No thanks sir, there are enough people in the world doing that with the Bible, I'd rather not read about how you choose to do it.
I think the idea is great. It certainly did give e a greater awareness on my stewardship of the Earth. However, the execution was poor, especially the additions at the ends of the chapter in which he takes content from his wife's book.
Give. Me. A. Break.
This sounded like a good book and had a decent beginning, but then turned out to be very overly dramatized and not really what I had expected it to be. The author's stories like how we should hang dries our clothes to save energy (because he and his family do) are not always applicable (ex: Texas humidity = mildewed clothes) and some of the information is totally inaccurate.
I was initially annoyed with all of the personal stories. That's not what I wanted. Give me scripture. Oftentimes when there wass scripture, it was either repeated ad nauseum or really didn't make sense to the chapter and was sort of like the author pulling at strings to make it fit. No thanks sir, there are enough people in the world doing that with the Bible, I'd rather not read about how you choose to do it.
I think the idea is great. It certainly did give e a greater awareness on my stewardship of the Earth. However, the execution was poor, especially the additions at the ends of the chapter in which he takes content from his wife's book.
Give. Me. A. Break.
October 24, 2013
Sleeth has a wonderful, gentle, interesting voice. His meditations are thoughtful and calmly inspiring. In this particular book he presents a fascinating understanding of environmentalism focused primarily through the lens of right/simple living. It is really quite a lovely book.
That said, there is very little depth or substance to the book (although his point about the organic and earthy language of Jesus was very neat). A large part of the book consists of Sleeth retelling Bible stories in a contemporary setting and then adding a small mention of creation care issues at the end of each chapter. This is not a useful format for me and I was slightly frustrated at the incredible obliqueness of Sleeth's arguments.
That said, there is very little depth or substance to the book (although his point about the organic and earthy language of Jesus was very neat). A large part of the book consists of Sleeth retelling Bible stories in a contemporary setting and then adding a small mention of creation care issues at the end of each chapter. This is not a useful format for me and I was slightly frustrated at the incredible obliqueness of Sleeth's arguments.
April 2, 2013
This book is a good introduction to the idea that Christians should be the ultimate environmentalists. Somehow this concept has been lost along the way. Why wouldn't the God who created the universe not want us to take care of it? But somehow being green has become associated with being liberal, on the fringe, or New Age-y. I'm not sure exactly what's gone wrong, but Sleeth uses Scripture to explain why we should care and why God wants us to care.
Practical suggestions are at the end of each chapter for steps you can take to begin making an impact on your world and to become greener.
Practical suggestions are at the end of each chapter for steps you can take to begin making an impact on your world and to become greener.
April 30, 2019
This is a straightforward, practical book about caring for the earth and making lifestyle changes. Sleeth discovers sound advice from the Bible...Genesis through Revelation-- relates that to our culture and everyday American life, and makes suggestions for change. The author is an ER doctor whose family has chosen an alternative lifestyle, living off the grid when possible. But his theology is sound and his suggestions doable.
July 8, 2011
So far I'm not impressed. I do like the list of things you can do at the end of each chapter.
Gave up reading after chapter 3. Not what I was hoping for.
Gave up reading after chapter 3. Not what I was hoping for.
August 13, 2013
A well thought-out theology of earth-keeping. It roams from music to hospitality.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews