Ruth Harvey explains why language matters.

THE language we use is important. Whether we are considering how we talk about God, the language we use in children’s novels, or which pronouns to use, language is important. It conveys more than meaning. The words we choose communicate the values we hold and the tone we intend. Which is why it’s worth listening to those who are critical of our words.

Depending on which version of scripture you read, the first story of creation in Genesis 1 gives humans ‘responsibility for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth’ (the Message) or ‘dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth’ (New Revised Standard Version).

In this series I have been looking at scripture through the lens of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) commitment of the Iona Community. This commitment is a living document. It has evolved over the decades from a Peace Commitment to a commitment which includes our belief that there can be no peace without justice. And most recently it includes commitments relating to our care for the earth. ‘We believe that God has given us partnership as stewards of creation and that we have a responsibility to live in a right relationship with the whole of God’s creation.’

“ The words we choose communicate the values we hold and the tone we intend. Which is why it’s worth listening to those who are critical of our words.

Members of the Iona Community are reviewing the wording of this commitment. We want to ensure that it is as expansive and as specific as it needs to be. And we want to ensure that words such as ‘steward’ reflect the subtlety and totality of what we now understand and believe.

If it once denoted partnership, it is widely agreed that the nuance of ‘steward’ tips more now towards dominance and submission rather than companionship, partnership, along-side-ness. Ruth Valerio offers four powerful arguments about ‘why we are not stewards of the environment’: 1) it is not biblical 2) we steward things that are inanimate, not living 3) stewardship implies hierarchy and 4) stewardship leaves no place for wilderness.

Whether we are given dominion, responsibility, or even stewardship (see Luke 16 on stewarding of resources), the question for us today is how we live in partnership, in right relationship with the earth, or with Earth (note this nuance in the two translations above), and with all of creation.

In the 1990s, disability activists coined the phrase, ‘nothing about us without us is for us.’ This slogan emphasises the need for full and direct participation in policy building by all affected by any given policy. In partnership with all of creation, therefore, and as we review our Community’s JPIC commitment, this is a powerful reminder that the divine imperative to act for peace and justice needs to include those directly impacted by our actions. We are stewards no longer, but partners together, with creation. 

Ruth Harvey is Leader of the Iona Community. Find out more about, and join the Iona Community at www.iona.org.uk.