By Grant Taylor and Jamie O’Brien
The idea that people of faith have a shared responsibility to protect “our common home” was the theme of this year’s Abraham Day event hosted by the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle.
The interfaith event, held last Thursday 27 October, brought together leaders of Western Australia’s Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities – which all share a common origin Abraham – to focus on issues that unite them and strengthen the bonds of friendship.
During the panel discussion, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB spoke about the story of Genesis and how people we are created in the likeness of God to be “stewards of the world”.
“At the end, the way the story presents itself, it has as the culmination of God’s creative activity, the creation of humanity,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“My experience of teaching primary school children, is that, if you share this particular story with them, and then you say to them, ‘What sort of God is being talked about?’ they’ll say something like, ‘Well it’s a God who makes stuff.’
“We would put it in a slightly more sophisticated way, but ultimately, those young people would be right. We have a kind of a litany or a poem, which speaks very powerfully as God as a creating God, as a life-giving God. That’s important to keep in mind,” Archbishop Costelloe explained.
“Because after God created everything else in this first creation story, He creates humanity. And it says, God created humankind in the divine image and likeness.”
Archbishop Costelloe continued by explaining that there is then a phrase that has caused a lot of trouble over the long period of the Christian interpretation, “and God said, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it’.”
“Often people will look back to that particular that last phrase ‘and subdue it,’ and see there the roots of much of the ecological crisis that we now face today,” Archbishop Costelloe highlighted.
“I want to suggest that that has been a misreading. Because when we’re told in the Book of Genesis that after creating everything else, God creates humankind, male and female, He created them. We’re told that He created humankind in the divine image and likeness.
“And again, if we went back to those children and said, ‘What kind of God is it?’ They’d say, ‘It’s a God who makes things. It’s a God who brings things to life.’
“We’re created in the image of the Life Giver, and the creator, not in the image of the death dealer, and the destroyer,” Archbishop Costelloe emphasised.
“And so our very vocation, certainly in the Christian interpretation of the Book of Genesis, our vocation is to image God in the way we deal with what God has created to be life givers, as God is a life giver. To be creators, as God is a creator, to love and cherish and care for and steward God’s creation, exactly as God himself loved and cared for and stewards creation,” Archbishop Costelloe explained.
Perth Hebrew Congregation Chief Rabbi Daniel Lieberman built upon Archbishop Costelloe’s comments, discussing the psalms that praise God for the wonder of creation, and how all religious followers were encouraged to act as “caretakers” for our planet and its biodiversity.
Islamic community of Perth Teacher and Leader Sheikh Muhammed Agherdien highlighted the Quran’s passages that urge humans to take care of the environment.
He also thanked Notre Dame for the gift of the olive tree he received last year, calling it a constant reminder of the shared bonds between us all.
Notre Dame Vice Chancellor Professor Francis Campbell said the insights from the day brought a unique perspective to the public square on this important topic.
The introductory remarks were followed by a lively and thought-provoking Q&A panel in which topics of ecological degradation, climate change, consumerism, and future preservation were discussed.