The Green Bible, published by Harper Collins in 2008, was developed with the intention of being the first specialty bible to take the issue of creation care seriously. The original Green Bible used the New Revised Standard Version of the Christian bible (NRSV). It is a green-letter edition, meaning that if text was judged to meet four creation care criteria it is printed green. The four criteria are:
- How God and Jesus interact with, care for and are intimately involved with all of creation
- How all the elements of creation – land, water, air, plants, animals, and humans are interdependent
- How nature responds to God
- How we are called to care for creation
In addition to the green lettering of creation care text, The Green Bible is a basic Bible, prefaced by 120 pages of enlightening essays by famous conservationists and theologians that describe how Christians should care for Creation. The introductory essays include:
- Foreward, Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- Introduction:The Power of a Green God, J. Matthew Sleeth
- Reading the Bible Through a Green Lens, Calvin B. DeWitt
- Peace with God, Peace with All Creation, John Paul II
- Why I Am Green, Brian McLaren
- CreationTheology: A Jewish Perspective, Ellen Bernstein
- Knowing Our Place on Earth: Learning Environmental Responsibility from the Old Testament, Ellen F. Davis
- Jesus:Savior of the Earth, James Jones
- Jesus Is Coming – Plant a Tree!, Dr. N.T. Wright
- The Dominion of Love, Barbara Brown Taylor
- Loving the Earth Is Loving the Poor, Gordon Aeschliman
- Teachings on Creation Throughout the Ages, J. Matthew Sleeth
The Green Bible closes with three useful tools:
- “The Green Bible Trail Guide” which groups creation care Bible quotes into themes and offers ideas and questions for discussion groups.
- “Where Do You Go from Here? offers suggestions for addressing environmental issues, ideas for churches to get started and a list of creation care resources from many Christian faiths. (However, more current resources and ideas are readily available on the internet.)
- “The Green Subject Index” makes it easy to locate biblical citations on numerous earth care topics.
The Green Bible, is currently out of print. Used copies are readily available. It has been remade into an ebook sold by Barnes and Noble for their Nook readers, as well as for iPhone/iPads and Androids.
