Harper's The Green Bible has created a lot of controversy mostly because of a single endorsement on the back by Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. But few of the critics I'm sure have made it through the wonderful introductory essays by great Christian thinkers such as Desmond Tutu, Brian McLaren, and Wendell Berry to name a few. This is the bible to own if you want to dive deeply into what God's word says about creation and our role in it. One particularly powerful section is one that examines Christian thinking on the Environment over the centuries, looking a writings from Martin Luther, John Calvin, Johnathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, and Billy Graham.

Here is a small selection and hopefully a demonstration of what the Green bible is trying to get at:

"God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on the trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." ~Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“Let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.” ~John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Genesis

"When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous rainbow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness, and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness." ~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

"What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as an instrument.

Because God created the natural--invented it out of His love and artistry--it demands our reverence.

Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and infinite majesty. I had to learn it in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one." C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

"To drive to extinction something He has created is wrong. He has a purpose for everything... We Christians have a responsibility to take the lead in caring for the earth." Billy Graham (1918-Present)