Reading and Discussion Questions - Sideris and McFague

Sallie McFague - Excerpt - Chapter Two - "Consider the Lilies of the Field" from Super, Natural Christians 

1.  Why should Christians be worried about Nature?  (see especially pages 26 and 38)

2.  Why is incarnational theology so important to McFague? (see especially p. 31)  

3.  What does she mean by the loving eye and the arrogant eye?  What is the subject-subject model?  Why does McFague adopt the subject-subject model?  What role does it playing in answering her question, "Why should Christians love nature?"

4.  What references does she make to Jesus and what purpose do they serve in her argument?

5.  Does McFague hold that there is intrinsic value in nature?  If so, how does one come to appreciate it?

6.  Does McFague have too warm and fuzzy a view of nature?  Why or why not?  Is she avoiding evolutionary conflict?

7.  How do feminist thought and the arts come into her text?  What do you make of her example of Annie Dillard's Ellery and her own visits to the park in B.C?

8.  Why is "attention" so important to McFague?

9.  Can she be accused of "wild-eyed ecosophy" as Schwarzschild might put it?  How does she describe her view and experience of nature as a young adolescent?  Why does she reject this view now?

10.  If you read Kearns, which of Kearn's categories do you think McFague most closely resembles?  Why?  Be sure to be able to cite specific passages from McFague in support of your categorization.  

Lisa Sideris

1.  What are the criticisms that Sideris offers of various ecotheologies? Of various individualistic animal ethics?

2.  Outline why Sideris believes a modified version of the Land Ethic and Gustafson's theological ethics should be preferred to other options.  Should we be persuaded?  Why or why not?

3.   Peterson (from last class session) and Sideris both mention the importance of science for Christian ecological theology.  What role does Sideris think science either could or should play in the development of an environmental ethic--secular or Christian?  Why is Darwinian evolutionary theory of such interest to her?

4.  What aspects of Callicott and Rolston does Sideris explore and exploit?

5.  Readers are often captured more by vivid examples than abstract prose.  Sideris's references to the buffalo caught in the ice, the bears on the island, and the goats moved and killed to save plants are striking examples.  What are these examples meant to illustrate? 

6.  What concepts of God, humans, and nature does Sideris find most convincing?

7.  What are Sideris' views on suffering and predation?

8.  What would "success" or "environmental health" look like for Sideris?

9.  Can either Sideris or McFague be viewed as advocating a stewardship model?  Why or why not--and, how are you defining stewardship?