The 6th Day

The 6th Day


The 6th Day

One of my students who has an interest in the early church thought he had run across an indication that there were times when the early church fathers preached/lectured on the days of creation during Holy Week. Now whether or not they did so, I don’t know for sure. But as I reflected on the idea, it suggested some intriguing connections. It provides a way of pulling together the original creation and the new creation as it focuses on the central role of God’s human creatures in both instances

Extinction within Creation

Extinction within Creation


Extinction within Creation

Great Auk—Wikipedia Commons The year 2011 saw a number of species go into extinction. These include among others, the western black rhinoceros . Others are in danger as well. On  Friday, Oct 28, 2011  USA Today ran and article entitled, “Extinct in 20 Years?” “Tigers, Lions, Cheetahs, extinct in 20 years?


Visualizing the Anthropocene


Visualizing the Anthropocene

In the last post, I mentioned a few examples of human influence on earth that have prompted many to now speak of the Anthropocene Epoch, the age of human transformation of the planet. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (or more. Since then, I’ve run across several things that help us to visualize the extent of our impact upon the earth, both for good and ill


How Shall We Live?


How Shall We Live?

Seven billion people as of Oct 31, Reformation Day. The world’s population has more than doubled in my lifetime. For that matter, it’s increased three billion since I was in high school. It has increased by one billion in the last twelve years

Life Abundant

Life Abundant


Life Abundant

One of my favorite quotes comes from Wendell Berry (not surprisingly). In commenting on the nature of the abundant life, he makes the statement that material sufficiency has been met (food, clothing, shelter etc.), “life itself, which is membership in the living world, is already an abundance” ( The Way of Ignorance ). Think about it. It goes to how we think about what constitutes the good life


Animal “rights?”


Animal “rights?”

My colleague, Tim Saleska, put me on to an op-ed in the New York Times regarding a ballot initiative that was passed by Californians to ban certain factory farm practices. In particular, it states that farm animals cannot be confined for their entire lives to cages in which they cannot move