Saint Augustine and Ecology. Various perspectives and guidelines.
The article has as a point of departure the fact of the scarce bibliography that exists in Spanish on the subject of ecology in the works and thought of Saint Augustine. Afterwards, it points out the three dangers that could exist when addressing this issue, namely the danger of anachronism, the danger of misunderstanding the texts of St. Augustine, and the risk of excessive spiritualization of the subject. It then briefly reviews the book of Scott Dunham, The Trinity and the Creation in Augustine. An ecological analysis, highlighting that the God that has created all is the Triune God, and that in the Augustinian idea about creation, Christology and Pneumatology are not absent. The Augustinian ecological lines are presented afterwards, highlighting firstly, the importance of the Holy Scripture in the thought of St. Augustine. Later it presents how creation is comparable to a book, in which it is necessary to read the presence and redemptive work of God. It is emphasized that nature has a sacramental value in a broad sense, and therefore its care is necessary. On the other hand, the figure of the human being is present as a “villicus”, that is to say, as an administrator or guardian of creation, making a relationship with the biblical mandate given by God in the book of Genesis. It deals also with the interrelation of all beings in the universe, the idea of continued creation, as well as the importance of ecological conversion.