The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation

by Bill McKibben

Overview

In The Comforting Whirlwind, acclaimed environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben turns to the biblical book of Job and its awesome depiction of creation to demonstrate our need to embrace a bold new paradigm for living if we hope to reverse the current trend of ecological destruction. With reference to the consequences of our poorly considered and self-centered environmental practices—global warming, ozone degradation, deforestation—McKibben combines modern science and timeless biblical wisdom to make the case that growth and economic progress are not only undesirable but deadly. If we continue to accelerate the pace of development, we will inevitably complete the “decreation” of our planet and everything on it, including ourselves. In his signature lyrical prose, and using Stephen Mitchell’s powerful translation of Job, McKibben calls readers to truly appreciate both the majesty of creation and humanity’s rightful—and responsible—place in it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561012343
Publisher:	Cowley Publications
Publication date:	08/28/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	85
Sales rank:	383,184
Product dimensions:	5.52(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Bill McKibben is the author of The End of Nature, Enough, Wandering Home, and several other books, and frequently contributes to The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, and Orion. He is a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College and lives with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter in Ripton, Vermont.

Editorial Reviews

McKibben's book is . . . a very good one. He offers a good analysis of the biblical text, draws out its theology, and then relates the book of Job to a modern problem. He is able to show how the one can inform the other in an inspiring way.

Spring 2008 Biblical Theology Bulletin

Bill McKibben is one of the truly original thinkers writing today. He questions what everyone else takes for granted and finds fresh insight in the unlikeliest places. It surprises me not at all that he has plumbed the depths of Job to find wisdom everyone else has overlooked.

Philip Yancey

McKibben urges . . . an approach to nature that is grounded in joyous celebration of its wonder and beauty as well as in a humbler perception of our place in it. . . . A powerful statement.

From the Publisher