I began my public theological vocation with my first book, Brother Earth (1970), by calling for a new theology of nature. I ended that book by discussing Jesus and the earth; and more, Jesus and the whole cosmos. In response, lots of folks, including some theologians, expressed puzzlement. Jesus, our personal Savior – and the whole world of nature? What’s that all about?
It’s all there in Holy Writ. I argued this in 1970 and have so argued ever since. For the Bible, in Jesus Christ God loves all the stars and every sparrow, as well as us humans. For the Bible, Jesus is the cosmic Christ. See John 3:16: “For God so loved the cosmos that God gave God’s only son….”
Still inspired and driven by that longstanding cosmic faith in Jesus, I have in recent years decided to celebrate Maximo, too. Not as the one who’s anything like the cosmic Center of all things as I believe that Jesus is (Colossians 1:15ff.), but as one whose work in behalf of all the creatures of the earth, especially us human creatures, appears to me – here invoking the thought of the great Karl Barth – to reflect the Grace of God in Jesus Christ in some small measure.
Maximo works not to change water into wine, but to transform light into electricity. This is that story, according to the New York Times (July 30, 2024): “[The] AES Corporation, one of the country’s biggest renewable energy companies, introduced a first-of-its-kind robot that can lug around and install the thousands of heavy panels that typically make up a large solar array. AES said its robot, nicknamed Maximo, would ultimately be able to install solar panels twice as fast as humans can and at half the cost. Roughly the size of a pickup truck, Maximo has large extendable arm that uses suction cups to pick up panels one by one and lay them neatly into rows, using an artificial intelligence and computer vision to position them properly.”
True then. People like me who are aspiring to be Christians, will want to keep celebrating Jesus as the Light of the world (John 8:12). To that end, many of us will also keep commending the wisdom of the Scriptures: “In thy light, we see light.” (Psalm 36:9) For would-be Christians, in other words, Jesus illuminates what’s really important in our world, not just the history of our salvation. Therefore, I believe, we who aspire to be faithful disciples of Jesus in these times of global ecojustice crisis will want to welcome, indeed to celebrate, the promise of Maximo, too.
With this critical qualification, to be sure, which deeply anchors biblical values: that human workers whom Maximo might displace along the way will be provided with other equal or even better employment opportunities. That way, with justice for all creatures in view, we can consider Jesus and Maximo to be partners indeed.
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