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.
I have been appointed a Fellow of Sinai and Synapses, a Jewish-based organization in New York City, founded to stimulate critical interaction between faith traditions and contemporary science. Sinai and Synapses is a sort of Jewish version of BioLogos, though BioLogos is an explicitly Christian organization, while Sinai and Synapses has an interfaith focus.
I met the founder and director of Sinai and Synapses, Rabbi Geoff Mitelman, at a BioLogos conference in Baltimore in 2019 (the picture below was taken at the National Aquarium, Baltimore).
The Fellowship is a two-year appointment (2021-2023), during which time I will attend meetings with other Fellows, possibly be interviewed for their “Down the Wormhole” podcast, and write blog posts and do public speaking on issues of science and faith.
We are thrilled to announce the fifth cohort of Sinai and Synapses Fellows! We had some of the strongest applications ever in this round, and selected seventeen people from nine states, plus Washington, DC, the United Kingdom and Brazil. These brilliant, thoughtful and dedicated people will be learning together over the next two years, helping raise the discourse on religion and science in their communities and beyond. With the incredible work that our previous Fellows have already created, we can’t wait to see what happens with this group!
You can see the bios of the current group of Fellows here.
I am very much looking forward to interacting with the other Fellows (and alums of the Fellowship from previous years), We come from such different backgrounds and have such a range of diverse expertise and experiences that I am sure to be energized by the conversations.
I am also hoping that what I learn through participation in this Fellowship will be fruitful for a book I’ll be working on in a couple of years, entitled Life and Death in the Garden of Eden: A Theological Reading of Genesis 2-3 (contracted with Cascade Books).
CREATION to ESCHATON 