Sallie McFague Speaks at the University of Calgary

Humans urged to respect our planet
Change sense of entitlement, says theologian

GRAEME MORTON
Calgary Herald

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Canadians need to change the lightbulbs inside their minds as well
as those in their homes and churches when it comes to a new spiritual
approach to the environment.

Sallie McFague, distinguished theologian in residence at the
Vancouver School of Theology and the author of a number of books on
religion and ecology, is calling for a profound shift in the way
humans view our place in the natural world.

McFague will be in Calgary on Monday and Tuesday to deliver the
University of Calgary's Iwaasa Lectures in Christian Spirituality.

"The heart of the question is who do we think we are in the scheme
of things, and what do we have the right to do?" says McFague.

She notes while global warming and climate change are scientific
and economic issues, they are also deeply theological debates.

"Religions have traditionally been involved in helping to form the
basic assumptions about who we are and what we ought to be doing,"
McFague reasons. "In our market-driven system, we have the view that
we are individuals who deserve to get everything we can legally get
hold of without worrying too much about other people."

McFague says scientific research is painting a different scenario:
that we can't continue on our present course without destroying other
life forms.

"Sharing is not just a warm, fuzzy word; radical interdependence is
the law of the universe in terms of a just and sustainable living
situation."

McFague says changing such entrenched assumptions of individual
entitlement won't be easy, but people of faith can play an important
role.

"If we think of ourselves as the only 'subject' and the rest of the
world as an 'object,' then you look at a forest first as so many
board-feet of lumber -- it becomes merely a resource," she says.

McFague says many mainline Christian denominations have been
primarily inward-looking in recent years, focusing on issues such as
declining membership and sexuality.

But she senses a significant shift in the wake of the work of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore in bringing
global warming to the public's collective radar screen.

"It's a time of great openness and possibility for much more
serious analysis and action. Global warming is not a cosmetic issue;
this is very basic stuff for our survival," says McFague.

McFague says individuals and congregations doing green surveys of
their lives and facilities is a good first step in focusing on
climate change.

"It helps them raise their consciousness and embrace a different
attitude," McFague says. "But people realize pretty quickly that
personal changes are not enough. It doesn't matter how many times you
ride the bus if there aren't large systemic, political changes."

Rev. Meg Roberts of the Unitarian Church of Calgary says world
religions share common values of respect for other beings and for the
earth itself.

"To call us back to that foundation gives us inspiration," says
Roberts. "Both faith communities and environmental groups can offer
support to each other; that you're not alone when you despair over
the size of the challenge ahead of us.

"We all have to remember faith and values are connected to the
economic and political systems," Roberts says.

McFague's latest book, A New Climate for Theology: God, the World
and Global Warming, is due out in May.

gmorton@theherald.canwest.com© The Calgary Herald 2008

Hope Renewers: Profile of an Up-and-Coming Student Leader

The future of our planet and our spiritual institutions lies in the hands of the students of today. As we plan this conference, we bring together our hearts and minds to work together towards a common goal: bringing the environmental crisis to the attention of our faith-based institutions. Whether or not this task is accomplished will be based largely on the efforts of students young church leaders, such as our very own Frederica (Freddie) Ghesquiere. It is upon their backs that the groundbreaking work of current scholars and church-leaders will be carried.

Freddie, a first year student at Yale Divinity School is quickly becoming a leader in the greening of our school. A self-described Christian Quaker, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and a member of the Yale Committe on Social Justice (YCSJ) and the Yale Earth Care Commitee (YECC), Freddie has devoted herself to making her world a better place for others. While she has no specific career goals in mind, she is considering a future in faith-based overseas development focusing on resource management or NGO work in ecotheology here in the United States. 

Please enjoy this excerpt from her Senior Thesis:

Conversations with Scott Stokoe, a philosopher, counselor, teacher, and the director of Dartmouth's organic farm, inspired my fierce scribbling about humans' relationship with nature as we transplanted tomatoes one summer during college. Scott helped me see that we live in a society separated from the earth. Introductions to environmental texts do not often address this human separation from nature. Instead, alaming statistics typically persuade the reader that something is not quite right outside our climate-controlled homes and offices. From my studies of the environment I accept as a given that we are in the midst of a crisis. Our species is altering the natural systems of the earth at an unprecedented rate. Many express alarm, but few search for the ultimate cause in the place I consider most likely to harbor some answers: religion.

When I explain to someone that I was both a religion and environmental studies major in college I am often met by a furrowed brow and the inevitable inquiry: What do those have to do with each other? Initially I might have answered that I was passionate about both, but soon I began to say with confidence that they are inextricably linked. Religion has a great deal to say about nature, and the way we treat nature has a great deal to do with the predominate religion in our society. In America, institutional Christianity has ignored the issue of the environment up until a few decades ago, and even then responded with lukewarm interest. Christianity is perceived as a religion about people. Through the historical act of a man, it claims to redeem all humans and strives to spread this message to all people. After all, no one is out to convert pine trees. It was not until a historian of medieval technology published an essay in the late sixties that a connection was forged between the ancient tradition and the emerging threat of ecological destruction.

Today churches are forced to respond to attacks from environmentalists on what the environmentalists perceive to be Christian apathy toward the environment. Many scan the Bible and extract an anthropocentric message that says little about the natural backdrop to our human play. At the same time more and more Christians believe following Jesus demands an ecological commitment, and that scripture sends a clear message about earth-care. Even more thinkers believe we need to move beyond reliance on technology and fundamentally alter our belief systems in order to address the environmental crisis. Efforts to do so must battle a worldview built up through centuries of Christocentric cultures. Anne Primavesi claims that if the worldview is commonly held and reasonably workable, it will be adhered to despite evidence to the contrary. The Christian worldview conveys a message about the earth that is perceived to be fundamentally at odds with the environmental movement.

My senior thesis, Christian Responses to the Environmental Crisis: A Typology, began on scraps of dirty paper, smudged with soil from the organic farm. Months later, it evolved into a document that addresses what Christianity has to say about nature, and how Christians today respond to the environmental crisis.

Paul Winter to Perform at Renewing Hope

We are thrilled to announce that musician and composer, Paul Winter, will be performing at the Saturday evening banquet, as well as at the interfaith eco-service on Sunday morning in Marquand Chapel.

This five-time Grammy award winner is known for his inspirational recordings on which he collaborates with musicians from all over the globe, including the creatures of the wider Earth community, and his solstice celebrations at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine are
legendary.

He describes his unique and original “Earth Music” as “a vital celebration of the creatures and cultures of the whole earth” (http://www.livingmusic.com/). This year he has once again been nominated for a Grammy award for his latest recording, Crestone.

The Creek Ran Through Me

Inspiration: We find it everyday, all around us. As we share and plan for the Renewing Hope Conference, we constantly inspire and move one another towards our common goals. As student volunteers gather and plan for the conference and the interfaith eco-service, I find inspiration in others around me. Whether they be student volunteers, conference organizers, or students emailing me with their insights and inspirations, I find myself washed over by the hope and dedication of others and I'm inspired to do more.

Sandra Smyth, a second year non-degree student at Yale Divinity School, who likes to center down with the Holy Spirit by a waterfall in Redding, Ct.,  is our next contributor. Taken from a collection of poems from 1961 to the present entitled "Paradise Within: Intimate Earth, Intimate Spirit," Sandy shares with a series of poems which follow the theme: At first I ran by the creek; At last, the creek ran though me.

ABIDING

I just want to sit

By flowing creeks

And blowing trees,

Where I can steep

Awhile and breathe;

Let go of ego

And just be.

That's Heaven

On Earth for me,

Deep listening,

Hearing thee.

2004

FREEDOM

That I could live among the trees,

Breathe the breath of Nature

Through my pores,

And sweep in gracious ecstasy and ease,

Like wind which passes inward

From the shores.

1961

PARADISE WITHIN

Enter through the door of Silence

To Paradise within.

Go deep. Breathe.

Inhale the fragrance

Of the forest there as Peace.

Exhale the fragrance

Through your heart as Love;

Let all that block's the Spirit's

Flow within you cease

Be Grace and Goodness

Gushing up in you.

Be a font of Joy

To all you meet.

Fly with the Eagle and the Dove;

Give, Receive;

The Universe unfolds through you.

2005

Call for Papers

The YDS Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology
Graduate & Faculty Forum

Call for Papers on

Renewing Hope:
Pathways of Religious Environmentalism

Inviting Works by Yale Students, Faculty, and Staff

The Yale Divinity School Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology (IRST) invites Yale graduate students, research affiliates, faculty, and staff to submit papers and/or projects illumin­ating the encounter of religion with science & technology, for presentation at the Graduate & Faculty Forum on Issues in Religion, Science & Technology.

Deadline for submissions: Feb. 14, 2008
Papers to be presented Feb. 28 • Yale Divinity School

Works selected are to be presented by their authors. Up to three papers are to be presented, with Q&A to follow. With presenters’ permission, the papers presented will be made available internationally via the Initiative’s website at yale.edu/religionandscience.

Unpublished papers, works in progress, and course projects (with or without attendant papers) are invited for summary presentation in 20 to 30 minutes. Please submit a one-page abstract by email to james.vanpelt@yale.edu.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to...

· Science in light of spiritual presence: spiritual perspectives on life and that which sustains it, and how human beings relate to the biosphere; health and healing; animal rights; and ecology.

· Science and technology in light of religious grounding and influence:

spiritual or religious perspectives on bioethics and genetics; environmental concerns; human extension via tools and technology; purposes and outcomes of technology; cultural criticism in light of related issues.· Science in light of the possibility of divine agency and interaction: evolutionary and cosmic origins and influences; scientific perspectives on religious truth claims and spiritual experience.

The mission of the Yale Divinity School Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology (IRST) is to engage the Yale community in interdisciplinary consideration of contemporary encounters between religion, science, and technology. IRST focuses especially on the theological, spiritual, ethical, and pedagogical implications of such encounters. IRST reaches beyond the Divinity School, inviting participation from across the University.

For more information:

yale.edu/religionandscience or james.vanpelt@yale.edu

Next Steps

The Renewing Hope conference will close on Sunday, March 2 with a panel entitled:

"Next Steps: Ways Forward"

This panel will include three of our own Yale Divinity School students: Matthew Riley, Joshua Ashton Hill, and Rachel Holmes. I'd like to take a few moments to introduce each of them to you and say a few words about their own work and ideas about the "way forward."

We'll begin with Matt Riley, our own Renewing Hope Student Volunteer Coordinator. Matt is a student in the MAR Ethics program at YDS, and he will be graduating from Yale this May. He has brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to this event and has assembled an amazing team of students from across the university to organize the interfaith eco-service that will take place Sunday morning, as well as to offer general conference support.

Matt Riley has recently submitted his applications to various PhD programs in ethics and hopes to begin work on his doctoral degree this coming Fall. As a former middle school biology teacher and union organizer with the Teach for America program, Matt is interested in continuing to teach at the university level. With a background in science and education as well as a rich family history of religious involvement, Matt feels that the linkage between religion and ecology is the most important moral/spiritual issue of our time. He hopes, as many of us do, that our work here will inspire others to seriously reflect on - and engage with - a multitude of religious traditions. In addition to his work as the student coordinator for the Renewing Hope Conference, Matt is also actively involved with the Yale Earth Care Committee.

Educating Families

"Why are you interested in the intersection of religion and ecology?" 

This is a question that I often ask myself and that I've recently been trying to answer on my nearly completed PhD applications. The answer, while often difficult to put into words, is decidedly a personal one. Each and every one of us can give a different answer to this question. For some it was a book they read, for others it was their personal experiences with nature, with animals, or with a place. Many were inspired by teachers, thinkers, or others in their lives. 

Recently, I sent out an email to the Renewal Conference's student volunteers asking them why they think that the intersection between religion and ecology is important. Lyndsay Bacher, a first year MAR student at Yale Divinity School wrote the following:

As a senior at Hamline University, I took a seminar on Wendall Berry, esteemed author, eco-friendly and very opinionated.  While I didn’t agree with him on many of his positions, I had to admire someone who would quit his job and move to Kentucky to farm his own land.  His passion for living rightly in and with the world was inspiring and lasting, prompting myself to examine the way I interacted with the environment around me.

It’s been unseasonable warm in Wisconsin - it rained the past two days when it should have snowed - and my sister said, “Al Gore told you so, Dad!” Since I’ve been at home over the holiday break, I’ve been trying to bring about change in my family’s day-to-day living.  While I haven’t persuaded anyone to move to a farm (myself included), I have convinced my family to bring re-usable sacks to the grocery store and often I wander around the house, turning off bedroom lights and various electronics.  Religion has been an important aspect in our daily life, and with a little effort, environmental consciousness can be as well.

Mary Evelyn Tucker on WYBC

Please tune your radio to WYBC 1340 AM (Yale Radio) on Friday, February 8th at 10 a.m.

Lisa Wexler will be interviewing Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale professor and co-director and founder of the Forum on Religion and Ecology. They will be discussing the upcoming Renewing Hope Conference at Yale, the new Renewal documentary, and the importance of the religious-environmental movement.

It will also be streamed live at http://www.wybc.com/

Calling All Student Volunteers!

Save the Date!

Renewing Hope
Student Volunteer Planning Session

Saturday, January 19 2008, 3 p.m
YDS Common Room

Organic snacks provided!

Any questions email

Matt: matthew.riley@yale.edu
or Tara: tcmk@aya.yale.edu

Call for Artwork

The Renewing Hope conference is putting out a call for artwork to be displayed during the conference. This is not a formal or juried show, but rather an open opportunity for members of the Yale community to share works of visual art related to the conference theme. We are particularly interested in pieces that depict or evoke the harmonious interaction of humans and the natural environment.

We welcome contributions from students, faculty, staff, and other registered conference participants. We would also be pleased to display artwork created by children that is related to this environmental theme. We will show as many pieces as our limited space allows.

The pieces will be on display at YDS on Saturday and Sunday of the conference weekend, and possibly for a longer period, depending upon availability of space.

If you have any questions or to submit artwork for display, please email:

Tara C. Maguire Knopick tcmk@aya.yale.edu

Sallie McFague

The official opening event of the Renewing Hope Conference will be a talk on Thursday evening, February 28, by Dr. Sallie McFague entitled "A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming."

Sallie McFague, an esteemed alumna of Yale University (Ph.D.) and Yale Divinity School (Bachelor of Divinity), is the author of such books as: Metaphorical Theology; Models of God; The Body of God; Super, Natural Christians; and Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril. Her latest work, A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming, will be released in May 2008 from Fortress Press.

She taught for many years at Vanderbilt Divinity School and is now a distinguished theologian in residence at Vancouver School of Theology.

We are very pleased to welcome Dr. McFague back to Yale to open the Renewing Hope conference. For more information on Dr. McFague's work go to:

http://www.vst.edu/faculty/mcfague.php

Our next voice of inspiration is that of Elizabeth Wilkinson, a Master's student at Yale Divinity School. Known as a poet and as a friend to nature, Elizabeth believes that the ideas of nature teaching us is important in terms of renewal. Those lucky enough to know Elizabeth are familiar with her insightful, creative, and often humorous thoughts on God, humankind, and nature. 

In a basic sense, Elizabeth is aware of the material renewal of nature and that we renew the earth even as it renews us. Spiritually speaking, she also believes that this renewing process extends to a spiritual and metaphysical level, such as exemplified in the use of bread and wine to represent the mystery of God indwelling. Please share these insights as you read on:

"Planting" by Elizabeth Wilkinson

I do not know who was feeding who,

Standing there, arms dropped down

Depositing one seed  and then another.

Curved back, sunlight passing through

I, the eye of the needle, sewing the earth.

I wanted to say, I will take care of you,

I will be back later with a watering can.

But the little faces stared up at me,

Stearn, silent, hard faces,  as if to say,

"Our mothers are digesting in your stomach."

Planting, they call it, as if I will really

Reap what I sow when I, too, am dust,

When I, too, am fed on these most

Holy mysteries of water, wind,

And earth.

When Heaven Meets Earth

In addition to the documentary

Renewal: Inspiring Stories from America's Religious Environmental Movement,

The Renewing Hope Conference will also be showing a new documentary entitled

When Heaven Meets Earth: Faith and Environment in the Chesapeake Bay

by Susan Emmerich from the Creation Care Program of the Center for Law and Culture.

For more information on the film go to:
http://www.skunkfilms.com/scheduledshowsTangier.cfm

Dinner Speaker

We are pleased to announce that the speaker for the Saturday evening banquet will be James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Dean Speth's leadership has opened the door for partnership between the scientific and religious communities, and he has done tremendous work towards building bridges between the disciplines.

In his own words:

"We've heard a lot from scientists and lawyers and economists. We now need to hear more from preachers, poets, psychologists, and philosophers--people who understand the wellsprings of human behavior and values." (Yale Alumni Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2007, 53)

Dean Speth has served as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and was founder and president of the World Resources Institute; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also served as advisor on environmental issues to Presidents Carter and Clinton, and was awarded the prestigious Blue Planet Prize.

His books include Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment and Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment.

Soul Art

Hello again from Matt Riley!!!

Our next student-submission comes from Cintra Agee, a PhD student from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. Fitting in the with the INTER-faith theme of the Renewing Hope Conference, Cintra has submitted a Haiku inspired by a contemporary painting by a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations member from the central west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.

I hope that you find inspiration and beauty in it as much as I do!

Cougar at stream’s edge
Water reflects her soul art
But veiled to some eyes

A Graced Encounter with Nature

Hello Everyone! My name is Matt Riley and I am the Student Coordinator for the Renewal Conference. As we plan, email, schedule, and coordinate for the upcoming conference it is often easy to lose sight of the things that inspire us. In the weeks to come, I will be posting the thoughts, inspirations, and words of Yale students to remind us why nature matters and why we are dedicated to putting this conference together.

Our first entry comes for Yale Divinity student Josh Hill. Josh, who was studying for an winter exam, happened to glance out a window. His eyes fell upon an elegant scene under an oak tree on the blustery, frozen Divinity Quad. Inspired by Karl Rahner, Josh writes, "I knew that my awareness of beauty -- and God -- was no happenstance. It was a graced encounter with nature." By allowing natural values to lay claim to his religious (and moral) identity, Josh was inspired to write this poem:

“Leaves”

Thin ice
forms a layer
on top.

Brittle memories
of majestic oaks
skate to music
of wind.

Stillness signals silence.
He halts, arrested
beholding
praising God.