Commonwealth and Conquest: the promise and peril of a biblical theology of public lands

This paper will overview the conceptional and volitional resources the biblical ideal of commonwealth has to offer those pursuing public lands advocacy within Christian communities. It will also argue that the acknowledgment of conquest in both ancient Israel and colonial America, the misguided theology which legitimated it, and the tragic consequences surrounding it, must be engaged in order for a biblical theology of public lands to have integrity and to reach its potential as resource for Christian communities.