In my earlier blog post, I noted that a registration link was coming. The registration link, along with detailed information about the conference is now in place. Registration for the Saturday conference is very reasonable and includes continental breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks.
Webinar on Creation Care, Justice, and Formation
I mentioned the Friday evening, October 18, and Saturday morning, October 19, lectures that our keynote speaker Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat would be giving.
Beyond these two lectures, there will be a webinar at noon (Eastern time) in which Dr. Keesmaat will be interviewed by Dr. Marlena Graves, assistant professor of spiritual formation at Northeastern Seminary, on the relationship of creation care and justice to moral and spiritual formation. Attending the webinar is free, but registration is required.
Call for Papers Extended
The Call for Papers (on the topic of the conference, from any disciplinary point of view) is now extended to September 27. You are cordially invited to submit a proposal for a paper.
Golisano Community Engagement Center
The keynote lectures for the conference will be held in the Golisano Community Engagement Center, on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan University. Breakout rooms will be assigned for paper presentations.
Our keynote speaker will be New Testament scholar, farmer, and activist, Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat.
Sylvia Keesmaat
Sylvia teaches online at Bible Remixed (www.bibleremixed) and is the author (with Brian Walsh) of Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice (Brazos Press, 2019) and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (IVP, 2004). She also authored Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition (Sheffield Academic, 1999). Sylvia is currently writing a book on climate grief, tentatively titled, A Fountain of Tears: Ecological Grief in the Biblical Story. She lives on a farm in the Kawartha Lakes with her husband, Brian Walsh, and a fluctuating number of people and animals.
A longer up-to-date biography for Sylvia Keesmaat with more details can be found here.
Dr. Keesmaat will give two lectures in connection with the conference, a public lecture open to all and a keynote lecture for the conference.
Friday Evening Public Lecture
Sylvia’s Friday evening public lecture, October 18, 2024, is titled: “Torn Between Grief and Hope: Biblical Wisdom and the Climate Catastrophe.”
Lecture description: We are often so weighed down with grief over creational destruction that it is difficult to look to the future with hope. This talk will explore not only the ways that this grief is present in the biblical story, but also how a future of possibility and renewal shaped the biblical imagination of those who lived with that grief.
This is a free public lecture open to the entire community. Registration for the Saturday conference is not required to attend. More information about time, location, and directions will be forthcoming.
Saturday Morning Conference Lecture
Sylvia’s Saturday morning lecture for the conference, October 19, 2024, is titled: “The Lament of the Land and the Tears of God.”
Lecture description: The lens of trauma and grief offers a relatively new approach for interpreting biblical texts about creational destruction and land loss. In this talk we will explore a few texts that highlight the grief of both the Creator and creation, alongside an imaginative hope that calls us to be servants of restoration.
This is the keynote lecture for the conference on “Creation Care and Justice”; registration is required. Stay tuned for the registration link on the Northeastern Seminary website.
Registration (through the Seminary) will soon be available (I will post a link when it is).
Call for Papers
In line with the topic of Dr. Keesmaat’s lectures, we invite submission of high quality papers on any topic related to the broad theme of “Creation Care and Justice.”
We welcome papers from the theological or the scientific side (including the social sciences), especially those that explore intersections of a biblical-theological vision with issues of scientific interest.
Papers should be scholarly but not highly specialized presentations of about 25 minutes, aimed at an audience of students, pastors, and faculty from across the spectrum of theological and scientific disciplines.
A PDF of the full Call for Papers (including deadlines) for the October 2024 conference can be accessed here.
Last year I was invited to give two plenary lectures on a Christian worldview at a conference at Handong Global University, in Pohang, South Korea. The time has now come for the conference and I am finally in Korea.
The conference is called, “Christian Scholars: Forming Identity, Building Community.” It is sponsored by the International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE) and is for Christian academics throughout Asia and Oceania. I’ve been told that scholars and teachers from twelve different countries will be attending.
Why was I invited to give these talks? That’s something I asked when I received the invitation.
It seems that lots of Koreans have read my work, and not just my first book on a Christian worldview, which I wrote with Brian Walsh (The Transforming Vision). The Korean translation of that book sold as least as many copies as (if not more than) the original English edition!
It turns out that all of my books have been translated into Korean (The Transforming Vision is also in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Indonesian). Given my career as a biblical scholar since The Transforming Vision, it seems that the conference organizers wanted to hear how I would articulate a Christian worldview today in our contemporary global context.
My two lectures will introduce participants to serious biblical theology, focusing on humanity as the image of God and the movement of the biblical story towards the eschaton. I will attempt to draw implications from this deep dive into Scripture for Christians in academia (connecting to the twin conference themes of identity and community).
My lectures are entitled “The Vocation of the Christian Scholar: Called to Image God” and “Teaching towards a Vision: A New Heaven and a New Earth” (you can read a summary of the lectures here).
There are also thirteen breakout sessions planned, with three presentations in each (thirty-nine presentations in all). You can see the range of topics here.
I am both honored to be at this conference and somewhat intimidated by my assignment. But I am trusting in the grace of God and in my wonderful Korean hosts.
A selfie with Shin Gyun Kim, my Korean host who picked me up from the airport in Seoul.
I’m very much looking forward to fruitful engagement with fellow Christians in academia from different cultures and diverse fields of study.
CREATION to ESCHATON 