Abstract:
The ecological crisis has sensitised many to ask seriously how eco- just are we towards the earth and its inhabitants? A "green"-awareness obviously also influences our reading of texts, like all readings which are never value free. A "green"-ideological focus on the divine speeches of Job, lays bare its subtext of eco-justice. Creation, in its intimate relationship with God, has intrinsic value and worth, and becomes - to a certain extent - even "holy". Nature should be seen in a theocentric and not in a anthropocentric way. It does not exist for the sake of humans alone, in fact, it seems better off without human intervention. Humans are not above nature, but co-subjects of the earth community and should utilize its inhabitants as role models in the mastering of the art of life. Both school and church can play key roles in promoting a universal environmental ethics, as witnessed in Job. Within education circles, a new discipline, Environmental Education, has surfaced in the past few decades to do just this. Within Outcomes-based Education this discipline has ample opportunity to establish not only scientific knowledge on the environment, but eco-just values as well. The Job text, as one of many from the Christian tradition, along with ecological insights from the other mainstream religions, can aid in this laudable endeavour. The church as traditional partner of the school, although guilty of neglegence in the past, should also place the cause of eco-justice much higher on the agenda. The divine addresses in Job is a timely warning against the anthropocentrism in the church that threatens to annihilate God's creation
