Making Sense of the Oneness of Life: a Melanesian Christian View on Creation

Why talk about the integrity of creation? It seems, though, that we are responding to the modern crises of the disintegration of creation. A lot of ink is now being spilled in Christian literature, on trying to recover, or, perhaps, explore, appropriate theological reflections, to provide a strong impetus for concerns on justice, peace, and integrity of creation. The World Council of Churches, through its Church and Society sub-unit, has much to say on the “integrity of creation” aspect, in particular, Dr Preman Nile’s little book, Resisting the threats to life, (WCC Risk Series), for example, is an excellent summary of stories that may reflect the disintegration of creation. Niles also further notes, from a biblical perspective, why Christians should resist such threats to life as an “integral part ” of their confession of faith. But there are also others, like Jim McPherson, who say that, on the matter of the environment, and its despoliation, “Christian systematic theology has been strangely silent”.1 Furthermore, he also argues that the responsible body of WCC, focusing on the aspect of integrity of creation, “has been unable to find suitabl