Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:3 (Sep 2020)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JETS 63:3 (September 2020) p. 611

Book Reviews

Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why it Matters. By Sandra L. Richter. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2020, 158 pp. $14.99 paper.

Sandra L. Richter currently teaches OT at Westmont College. She obtained her Ph.D. from Harvard University. A former monograph, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament, stands out of an array of historical, societal, and economic articles that demonstrate her refined expertise of ancient Israel. Richter employs each chapter of Stewards of Eden as apologetic and polemic. She is also uniquely gifted as a storyteller. When her scholarship, storytelling, and environmental concerns are woven together, the reader holds a primer and enchiridion sure to provoke further reflection into creation care.

Richter takes up five themes as apologetic: “sustainable land use, humane treatment of livestock, care for the wild creatures, respect for the flora and fauna of our leased land, and care for the widow and orphan … reiterated from Eden to the new Jerusalem” (p. 107). These themes loosely correspond to the chapters that comprise the volume. She employs a parallel between Adam and Israel that demonstrates how both were constituted under suzerain obligations. Jehovah was “lord of the manner” and gracious land giver. Adam and Israel were only vassals on the land; as such, they were to obey the stipulations of the gracious creator/owner (pp. 9, 11, 16). Both Adam and Israel were to be faithful stewards of the land, which in turn would bring God glory.

Richter says the core message of Israel’s covenant is “If you will honor me as God, your only God, I will make you mine forever” (p. 30). They were formerly a slave people, and the covenant was formally ratified by the giving of the Sabbath. The gracious suzerain gave them a day of rest, worship, and refreshment. To see how radical this idea was, one need only contrast it with the idol worship of their neighbors. The nations around them were constantly performing activities for their gods, while Israel’s God was constantly caring for them.

Each chapter is laid out in Socratic fashion. First, Richter asks a question such as “What does the Bible say?” Her answers come from the suzerain’s instructions. This is then contrasted with a “What will we say?” and/or contemporary case study. Here she details how present-day vassals have violated the suzerain’s creation mandates. We have done this to our own detriment and to that of the planet.

Richter’s thesis is striking from the first page: “The subject matter of this book is … one of the most misunderstood topics of holiness and social justice in the Christian community today, the ‘Environmental Co...