The relationship between ecology and Christianity is the focus of a seminar of the department de Philosophy
It has been taught by Professor Alfredo Cruz
PhotoAdrianaObregón/El profesor Cruz during the seminar of the department of Philosophy.
17 | 10 | 2022
On Tuesday, October 27, the Seminars for the 2022-23 academic year of department of Philosophy were inaugurated at classroom 30 of Central Building . The discussion paper, entitled "Ecology and Christianity", was given by ProfessorAlfredo Cruz of Philosophy .
As Professor Cruz pointed out, "concern for the environment increasingly permeates our days and manifests itself in different aspects of our lives". The Catholic Church, as he explained, "has not remained indifferent to this concern," so he wondered about the model of environmentalism compatible with the Christian faith.
In his discussion paper, Professor Cruz pointed to a certain vision of nature: "According to agreement with St. Thomas Aquinas, the created world is a world in gestation. It is neither concrete nor finished, but there is room for greater perfection in it. This is from agreement with God's plan, since he also creates by means of second causes, of which the human being is the primordial one". In the words of Professor Cruz, "the human being is the main cooperator of God in the work of creation".
To say that man participates in creation gives us to understand that his role with respect to nature is not mere preservation, but that he has to collaborate in its culmination, as the professor indicated. "This cooperation is given through the work with which we cultivate nature. It does not consist of preserving or consuming: it is far from being passivity in the face of nature or despotic domination. It is, rather, a symbiosis between the human and the natural. Nature needs to be cultivated so that its potentialities, enclosed by the Creator, may emerge from it. Thus, cultivation becomes more profitable to man than exploitation", he affirmed.
Alfredo Cruz pointed out that Christian ecologism is neither biocentrism nor a deviant anthropocentrism: "It is a just anthropocentrism, in which man is seen as the creature that crowns creation, but at the same time does not exploit it as if it were just another creature, but cultivates and manages it to make it bear fruit".
