Creation Corner Column 4/2015 Beyond Earth Day 2015, for the faith-based reader

Beyond Earth Day 2015, for the faith-based reader

"Humanity is now using natural resources 50 percent faster than Earth can renew, meaning that we are currently operating as if we live on 1.5 Earths.  In the developed world, the news is even worse."

Amy Domini.

The newest effort is this:

Blessed Tomorrow is a coalition of diverse religious partners united as faithful stewards of creation who seek to inspire action today on one of the greatest moral challenges of our era---protecting our shared home (aka the planet, the earth, God's world).  Let us be caring for creation today so there may be a blessed tomorrow.  At http://www.blessedtomorrow.org one can find key talking points about faith and climate, frequently asked questions, partners and leaders in the effort, paths to positive steps (resources, tools, success stories, news, blogs, events), climate change vision, principles and commitment, etc.  Links to the 2015 45th anniversary of Earth Day are also provided.

The partners include Blessed Earth, Catholic Climate Covenant, Center for Environmental Leadership, National Religious Coalition on Creation Care, Interfaith Power & Light, Green Faith, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Islamic Society of North America, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, World Evangelical Alliance, and others.

Books for the faith-based reader:

Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love.  Elizabeth A. Johnson.

Can We Survive Our Origins?:Readings in Rene Girard's Theory of Violence and the Sacred. Pierpaolo Antonello and Paul Gifford, editors.

Creation.  David Fergusson.

Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology and the Pulpit,  Leah Schade (forthcoming).

A Faith Encompassing All Creation: Addressing Commonly Asked Questions about Christian Care for the Environment.  Tripp York & Andy Alexis-Baker, editors.

Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence.  Karen Armstrong.

From Nothing: A Theology of Creation. Ian A. McFarland.

The Gift of Creation: Images from Scripture and Earth.  Norman Wirzba and Thomas Barnes.

Good Food: Grounded Practical Theology.  Jennifer R. Ayres.

The Greening of Protestant Thought.  Robert Booth Fowler.
In the Steps of St. Francis.  Ernest Raymond.

Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology: Foundations in Scripture, Theology, History and Praxis.  Daniel L. Brunner et al.

The Nature of Creation: Examining the Bible and Science (Biblical Challenges in the Contemporary World).  Mark Harris.

Jesus Goes to Washington: His Progressive Politics for a Sustainable Future. Douglas J. Miller.
Pollution and the Death of Man.  Francis A. Schaeffer.

Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation.  Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda.

Song of a Scientist:  The Harmony of a God-Soaked Creation.  Calvin B. DeWitt.

Spirit Unleashed: Reimagining Human-Animal Relations.  Anne Benvenuti.

Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues.  N.T. Wright.

Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community (Modern Spiritual Masters).  Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, editors.

Upcoming:

The 2015 conference on Energy Efficiency: Integrating Technology, Policy, and People.  Sponsored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE); see http://aceee.org/conferences/2015/ssi .

This blog by Michael Ochs is now in its fifth year.  A Lutheran layman, he is a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Williamsport PA,  http://www.stmarkswilliamsport.org a parish in the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, http://www.uss-elca.org .