His Glassy Essence

I put a little qualifier on my definition of "dominion" the other day, because there seems to be a prevailing view that the rape and pillage of the planet can be blamed on a Christian world view. It's a gross misunderstanding if that view is either actually held by some Christians, or just perceived to be the case by some environmental campaigners. But that is another spiel.

Being a conservation biologist, who has spent years researching species extinctions, and a Christian myself I see the two as fundamentally and necessarily compatible.

Something that used to irk me was the popular science attitude that Christianity involves some sort of arrogance about the superiority of humanity. We do believe we have a God-given place of dominion over the creatures, and also responsibility for them, because we are made in the image of God, as different from the rest of the creatures. But seeing yourself in right relationship to the creator, as he has revealed himself to be, can only elicit a true humility - to be and do what he has created you to be and do.

So, that's why I was irked by the likes of Stephen Jay Gould writing thoughtless and inconsistent things like "science is stripping man off his every last pedestal" - and yet having the audacity to stand up and say that he, just a self-confessed meaningless and accidental speck on his own vast time span, can tell us all where we came from and who we are. That's arrogance. All science is doing is putting itself on a pedestal.

Reminds me of Shakespeare:

But man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assured,

His glassy essence, like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven

As make the angels weep.

-William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)