Witness Protection Program: Implications of a Theocentric View of Creation

Each year we pour millions of dollars and innumerable hours of work into ensuring that the witness of Scripture is available to everyone. And rightly so. Scripture, however, is not the only witness God has given Himself. The witness of Scripture and the church are accompanied by the witness of creation. We work tirelessly to preserve and propagate the witness of Scripture. We strive to do that in partnership with the witness of the church. Is it then reasonable and ethical to ignore the universal witness of God’s creation?

To care for creation is to fulfill the biblical mandate to oversee creation in a way that ensures that it can continue to communicate “His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature.” Far from an anthropocentric utilitarian goal, this goal of creation is nothing less than the revelation of God. A God-centered goal requires a God-centered – theocentric - treatment of creation.

Built on years of walking with the creation care movement, studies, work as a translation consultant, and participation in SIL’s Environment and Creation Care Services, this paper will look at the biblical basis for a theocentric treatment of creation and some of its implications for the Bible Translation movement. Those implications might include embracing a more holistic understanding of the gospel, gaining a deeper appreciation for the physical context of the communities with whom we work, addressing the need to give new narratives to old beliefs that inherently protected God’s creation, and modeling innovative behaviors that will care for creation so that all will always have access to its witness.