Descriptions of Nature as Images of Moral Decline in the Letter of Jude

Abstract

In the Letter of Jude, the author uses images from the environment to demonstrate the moral decline of the faith community. The environment is portrayed inter alia as dark, clouds without rain, trees without fruit, and trees uprooted. The author uses provocative or insulting language to describe the opponents of Jude as men whose appearance, behaviour or speech is typically associated with women. By linking the men with immoral women, they are effeminated. This paper examines the language used for the environment and women to depict the moral decline of the opponents in the Letter of Jude. The aim of the paper is to challenge a worldview based on the inferior status of the environment and of women, and to promote a view of the environment and women as subjects rather than substances. Ecofeminists suggest a worldview that places a high value on connection and relationship, instead of the androcentric worldview of contrast and separation.

Keywords

• letter of jude
• moral decline
• nature images
• earth
• women
• sexuality