"To publish a volume that dares to face the problem that much of the Bible is not green. Key biblical texts from the Bible, especially the Old Testament, might be called grey rather than green, especially in the context of the current environmental crisis and an emerging cosmology informed by ecology. The Bible as a whole might well be considered as inconvenient text.' The context is twofold. First, we are part of a growing ecological crisis and an emerging view of the natural world informed by ecology that is forcing the church to become progressively green. This pressure is evident from The Green Seminary Initiative in the USA. This pressure has led to numerous works on ecotheology and related topics, but relatively few works face the problem of the Bible in the current context. Most scholars find convenient texts in the Bible and ignore those that are inconvenient.

The second context is the use and study of the Bible in relation to our view of the natural world informed by ecology. In the history of Christianity, certain texts have been used to justify human exploitation of our planet, colonial invasion of Indigenous lands and the negation of Earth as a temporary disposable home. It is time to face these texts in the current environmental context and consider new approaches to the reading of grey texts in the Bible. This book's aim is to pursue a close reading of a selection of grey texts, including the notorious mandate to dominate in Gen. 1.26-28, and to highlight features that clearly demonstrate their problematic nature; to identify key features of the emerging worldview informed by ecology and how they heighten the problem at hand; to propose a bold alternative approach for the greening of biblical studies.