EVERY GREEN THING SALAD
- theologeat
- Mar 30, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 6, 2025
Eat
Yields 4 main dish servings or 8 side servings
Ingredients
Salad:
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 small head green cabbage, chopped
1 granny smith apple, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced
1 cup snap peas trimmed and halved OR fresh shelled English peas
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup fresh mint, cut into thin ribbons
1/2 cup fresh basil, cut into thin ribbons
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
Dressing:
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, and removed from shell
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
In a large serving bowl, combine salad ingredients and gently toss.
In a blender or food processor, blend dressing ingredients until smooth and creamy.
Salad and dressing can be kept, separate and covered, in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving or served immediately. Dress and toss gently before serving.
Theology
Inspired Word
Genesis 1:28-30
God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Bite Sized Theology
Stewardship is the concept that God has entrusted resources to us and that we are expected to manage them carefully. It is both a sign of respect to God (as the ultimate owner of those resources) and a sign that we are acting in line with His image in us. Stewardship is applicable to many areas of Christian life but is often used in regard to care for the planet.
The Main Meal
There is a theme which I have observed in popular Christian music that this world is not our home. These songs foster the notion that earth is not where we belong, we are just passing through. It is understandable how these artists came to such a conclusion. Added to a universal human awareness that our time here is limited, and that physical death is inevitable, Christian Scripture warns believers not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), encourages them that God is preparing a city to fill their longing hearts (Hebrews 11:16), and that this world is passing away (1 John 2:17). That is not, however, the total message of our relationship to this planet. While there is valid warning to not cling to the ways of the world, this is distinctly referring to worldly (a.k.a. not godly) ways and not to the physical world. The world is indeed passing away, but God does not give us a message that it will be discarded. Instead, the overarching message of the Bible is one of redemption and restoration. The final word on Earth’s destiny is that it will be made new (Revelation 21:1) and that it will be home to the promised city referred to in Hebrews (Revelation 21:2)! From the Garden of Eden at the beginning to the final Holy City, earth is our home and, for better and for worse, we are its designated keepers.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)” These famous words of the Bible show us that God himself created both the heavens and the earth. Their origin account is interconnected just as their re-creation is in Revelation. This makes clear that, though distinct, these are not wholly separate spaces. They are closer to rooms in a house rather than separate houses. This analogy may be a helpful one to consider as it is easy to think that heaven is God’s permanent home where we will one day be welcomed (certainly the impression given by those popular songs). Instead, it seems that the whole of creation is God’s home and we have been invited to live within that home with Him. The sense that God feels comfortable in his own home can be felt as Genesis describes him walking in the garden (Genesis 3:8) which he himself had planted (Genesis 2:8). His placement of the first people in that same garden, and his encouragement that they eat freely from it (Genesis 2:16), shows that he wants them too to feel comfortable in their home. They are to enjoy the garden as He does, they are also to do as He does in cultivating creation (Genesis 2:15).
As the only ones made in His image, humankind is tasked to represent God on earth and steward its resources. Like Him, we are to relate to this world as creators and as rulers, as is evidenced in His command to the first people that they “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…. over every living thing” (Genesis 1:28). This term “dominion” has been utilized at times to justify our misuse of the planet and animals. Strangely, combined with God’s later permission to eat meat, dominion has been employed, by some, as a vigorous argument against vegetarian diets. Why then does God first prescribe that we humans, like animals, should eat the green things of the earth… and what does dominion mean?
Old Testament theologian John Goldingay explains that the original Hebrew, which we translate to dominion or master, is rāḏâ. The meaning of this dominion or master is much more aggressive than one would expect. It is closer to dominating a foe than it is to kingly rule. What foe then is to be dominated or mastered? There is a sense in Goldingay's writing that the planet and animals will run towards rebellion. It is our job to get them in line with God’s vision. In fact, regarding animal consumption, Goldingay suggests that not only were we not specifically called to eat them but that we were called to stop them from eating each other! He says, “Genesis does see humanity as called to master creation so as to get it to function ecologically, to get wolves, leopards and lions to dwell with lambs and calves, knowing that this is God’s vision for them and that this vocation can therefore be fulfilled.” When we remember that our task of dominion does not mean lording over the earth for our own purposes, but instead to help it achieve its ecological ideal, it is humbling to consider how far from that ideal our planet has become.
We are all called to nurture this planet, and our food choices are part of that calling. This may not mean that every Christian embraces a vegan/vegetarian diet (admittedly, I have not... though recipes like the one above help me enjoy more meat free meals than in the past), but hopefully it can open us to making some greener choices. Let us rejoice in the responsibility of dominion and exercise it in a godlike fashion; taking care of God’s home as though it were our own… because, in fact, it is.
References
Camosy, Charles. “Why All Christians Should Go Vegan.” The Washington Post. January 5, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/01/05/why-all-christians-should-go-vegan/
Goldingay, John. Old Testament Theology: Volume One: Israel's Gospel. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015.
Hedenus, Fredrik, Stefan Wirsenius, and Daniel J. A. Johansson. 2014. "The Importance of Reduced Meat and Dairy Consumption for Meeting Stringent Climate Change Targets". Climatic Change : An Interdisciplinary, International Journal Devoted to the Description, Causes and Implications of Climatic Change. 124, no. 1-2: 79-91.
LeVasseur, Todd, Norman Wirzba, Pramod Parajuli, and Vandana Shiva. Religion and Sustainable Agriculture: World Spiritual Traditions and Food Ethics. 2016. <https://apps.uqo.ca/LoginSigparb/LoginPourRessources.aspx?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=1215627>.
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