Salvation Means Creation Healed: The Ecology of Sin and Grace

by Howard A. Snyder, Joel Scandrett (Contributor)

Synopsis: The Bible promises the renewal of all creation--a new heaven and earth--based on the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For centuries this promise has been sidelined or misunderstood because of the church's failure to grasp the full meaning of biblical teachings on creation and new creation. The Bible tells the story of the broken and restored relationship between God, people, and land, not just God and people. This is the full gospel, and it has the power to heal the church's long theological divorce between earth and heaven. Jesus' resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit is the key, and the church as Christ's body is the primary means by which God is reconciling all things through Jesus Christ. Jesus' ultimate healing of all creation is the great hope and promise of the gospel, and he calls the church to be his healing community now through evangelism, discipleship, and prophetic mission.

Endorsement: "This book clearly reveals that Snyder's conjunctive theology is congruent with East Asian ways of thinking. The scope of soteriology in his numerous books has been from creation to new creation. This book, however, is exceptionally thorough. It really does reconceive the whole meaning of salvation in a more soundly biblical way." --Ohoon Kwon Mokwon University

"In Salvation Means Creation Healed, Howard and Joel speak prophetic truth for Christ's Church, which continues to be deceived by the sirens of Platonic idealism that separate matter and spirit into two different worlds. God is redeeming Creation. A must read!" --Mike Slaughter Ginghamsburg Church

"Salvation Means Creation Healed crafts a stunning vision of the breadth of God's Reign in Jesus Christ over all things in both heaven and earth and then invites the church to participate fully. It is compelling. It is challenging. It demands a response." --David Fitch author of The End of Evangelicalism?

"In an era of dramatic and irreversible destruction of the earth's resources, Salvation Means Creation Healed is a timely call for Christians to recover a biblical vision of the missio dei as the restoration of all creation. We all need to heed this call toward a fullness of the gospel, pledging ourselves to reconcile the unfortunate divorce between heaven and earth. Our grandchildren's future is at stake." --Cheryl Bridges Johns Church of God Seminary

Snyder continues to burst old wineskins with Salvation Means Creation Healed. This is an important biblical, theological and historical examination of how modern evangelicalism has lost its way with regard to creation care and the gospel. Among all the recent publications on creation care, Snyder is the first to show how far back the roots of the "divorce between heaven and earth" really go. Every pastor and serious church leader who needs to get up to speed on what the issues in creation care are all about needs this book. Edward R. Brown, Director Care of Creation Inc. Author, Our Father's World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation

Author Biography: Howard A. Snyder holds the Chair of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. His numerous books include The Problem of Wineskins (1975), The Community of the King (1977, 2004), and EarthCurrents: The Struggle for the World's Soul (1995). Joel Scandrett is a visiting professor of theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and former academic editor at InterVarsity Press. He holds a Ph.D. from Drew University, where he worked closely with Thomas Oden in the development of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (IVP)."

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Christian

278 pages, Paperback

First published July 13, 2011

About the author

Howard A. Snyder serves as Professor of Wesley Studies, at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Previously he was Professor of the History and Theology of Mission in the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, 1996-2006. He has also taught at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, and pastored in Chicago, Detroit, and São Paulo, Brazil.

Reviews

[Suzanne McDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm 100% behind the thrust of this book, but it is very poorly executed. The background historical material is sloppy to the point of caricature and the background theological work is often shallow (and just plain inaccurate at times, especially when setting out eschatological issues. I'm a-mill myself, but if anyone reading this is historical pre-mill, they will be extremely unhappy to find all pre-mill positions lumped in with dispensationalism). It turns out, though, that this earlier 'background' part of the book is where the focus is most fully on themes of the healing of creation and overcoming the disjunct between earth and heaven. When we reach the constructive ideas in the latter half, the material is repetitive and unfocussed, and what is supposed to be the main theme of the book often fades from view. It ends up being far more about the church and mission in general, often with only token connections to the themes of the title. It seems as though the author/s could not decide how to weave together the material on ecclesiology, creation, and soteriology, and could not keep the focus on what the title leads us to expect. This might have been a very good and helpful book. As it is, it's all over the place, with a few basic, too-often-repeated, but mostly undeveloped creation / creation care related themes. Very disappointing.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will begin by saying this is a good book, and I strongly encourage any Christian of the evangelical church to read it. Snyder offers an ethic of creation care that is firmly rooted in and evangelical understanding of biblical theology that I recognize d almost immediately from my childhood. He argues against dispensational eschatology quite thoroughly, and exposes the influence of neo-platonic philosophy in the Church without directly calling it out as thoroughly heretical (it is though, the neo-platonic dichotomy of material / spiritual is fundamentally gnostic and heresy).
It was a bit of a slog for me personally though, because being a member of a more progressive mainline church already, and being already catechized into a theology of creation care based on the Franciscan tradition, this read like an overly academic primer to faith. If you are already invested in this kind of understanding of creation and ecology this may not be the book for you. If you want to develop a language for promoting this theology in a more conservative, fundamentalist, or evangelical environment, this would be a great book. Again, Snyder never sacrifices his conservative evangelical theology to make his case for a biblical ethic of creation care this is not a "woke" manifesto arguing that we all need to live in communes and become vegans, it is a truly conservative Christian argument for Church centered ecological action.

All of that said, it would have been 4 stars if not for one line... this line demonstrates very clearly that Snyder is still not willing to give up some of the heretical theologies that have destroyed the relationship between the Church and Creation... namely the Doctrine of Discovery... this line cost the book a star in my review... here it is: "The church's global engagement with diverse cultures has been overwhelmingly positive." on page 37 in the paperback edition.

[Tyler Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snyder does a great job showing the meta-narrative of salvation in scripture as creation healed. His comparing of soteriology as eschatology was challenging and thought out. The authors conclusions have challenging implications to how humanity is to live amongst itself and the earth.

[Neal Bringe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Key themes: The biblical world story is a narrative about the Triune God as Creator, Sustainer and Healer of all creation. Our ultimate mission as disciples is to participate in God’s mission. One can expect to see relationships continue to strengthen between the Triune God, Church (body of Christ) and Creation (new creation). The book was not concise and questionable in reliability.

[Filip Sekkelsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastisk bok om økologi, frelsen, evig liv og samspillet mellom dem.

[Dan Brunner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful book that expands a vision of salvation and hope.