The doctrine of dominion was reinterpreted as managerial stewardship requiring accountability
Evidence
God’s gifts should be used in secular lives and callings. Religion should be united with the Protestant idea of duty and calling, be it that of “ambassadors of heaven” or “the more secular business of the gentleman, tradesman, mechanic, or only servant.” Worldly occupations should be discharged with “diligence,” “care,” and “fidelity.” In Luke 16:2, God had said to the unfaithful steward, “Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.” The idea of man as nature’s guardian and caretaker was a managerial interpretation of the doctrine of dominion. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 920
Categorization
- DEFINE: Sharp definition of ‘stewardship’ as a managerial reworking of ‘dominion’ — a category distinction directly usable in class vocabulary.
- ADDENDUM: Relates closely to the trees-infrastructure article: stewardship-as-management of a designed creation parallels how tree infrastructure gets framed as exploitable resource versus commons.
- XREF: Connects to course thread on law/institutions: the stewardship concept survives into modern environmental law (public trust doctrine, wise use). Same family as White’s ‘Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’. — connects to: Colonial officials rationalized domination by claiming trusteeship over the colonized; Colonial dominion was justified as the natural right of those capable of ruling; Natural theology reframed godly stewardship as managerial mastery compatible with growth capitalism — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 925
Broader Connections
- Natural theology reframed godly stewardship as managerial mastery compatible with growth capitalism
#expands(0.90) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 925 - Colonial officials rationalized domination by claiming trusteeship over the colonized
#exemplifies(0.85) - Colonial dominion was justified as the natural right of those capable of ruling
#contradicts(0.82)