Of Trees & Tradition by John Oliver

Of Trees & Tradition

Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant Wisdom on the Environment
edited by Michael B. Barkey, foreword by Fr. Robert A. Sirico
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Acton Institute, 2000
(125 pages; $10.00, paper)

reviewed by John Oliver

When the devil laughs these days, assuming he has an experience resembling mirth, it may be because of the success of one of his primary strategies—the politicization of everything. Politics is the pragmatic art of the possible, and hardly the ideal foundation on which a healthy society is built. And he must feel especially gleeful when the Christians of the world abandon our Tradition—the ideal foundation on which a healthy society is built—and instead choose to orient our lives around the axis of politics. We do it too easily and too often: We exchange the truth of God for a lie. Especially damaging is when a secular principle is dressed in religious clothing and displayed as representative of true religious tradition. Such is the malady of Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant Wisdom on the Environment, published by the Acton Institute. It is economic determinism hiding behind the legitimacy of vestments.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:


Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

Online
Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more from the online archives

18.6—Nov/Dec 2005

Lesson Plan

on Fifteen Principles of Christian Parenting by Paige Patterson

31.5—September/October 2018

Errands into the Moral Wilderness

Forms of Christian Family Witness & Renewal by Allan C. Carlson

29.3—May/June 2016

Health of the Nation

A Deathbed Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching & Our Future Prospects by Karl D. Stephan

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00