Under what conditions does man have the capacity to affect...

Under what conditions does man have the capacity to affect his environment and which events in human history are outside of the purview of human agency? These are questions that may never be answered to the satisfaction of all believers but we may search the sacred texts and teachings of Christianity and Islam to determine what followers of both traditions are called and empowered to do.

It is clear from the writings of both traditions that Christians and Muslims are entrusted with great responsibility by God for the betterment of the world. A common theme in the teachings of Christian social justice emphasizes the responsible participation in God's own work of creating a more just society.

For example, the United States Catholic bishops in their 1986 pastoral letter on the economy entitled Economic Justice for All provide a case in point: Men and women are also to share in the creative activity of God.

They are to be faithful, to care for the earth ("The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.") (Genesis 2:15), and to have "dominion" over it ("God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'") (Genesis 1:28), which means they are "to govern the world in holiness and justice and to render judgment in integrity of heart" (Wisdom 9:3). Creation is a gift; women and men are to be faithful stewards in caring for the earth. They can justly consider that by their labor they are unfolding the Creator's work.

Later, the bishops explain that "although the ultimate realization of God's plan lies in the future, Christians in union with all people of good will are summoned to shape history in the image of God's creative design..." (section 53).

Here the bishops echo a point made by John Paul II in his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens: The word of God's revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamental truth that man [sic], created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the creator and that, within the limits of his own human capabilities, man [sic] in a sense continues to develop that activity, and perfects it as he advances further and further in the discovery of the resources and values contained in the whole of creation.