Creation in Crisis: Science and Theology Respond
One-Day Digital Conference: In Review
The Creation in Crisis: Science and Theology Respond Conference focused on the urgent environmental crisis facing humanity and our entire planet. We were privileged to welcome Nalini Nadkarni, Cornelia Mutel, and Larry Rasmussen as our keynote presenters and panelists. Each brought insightful perspectives on the ethical challenges we face in responding to this global crisis.
WTS Dean Nessan shared of our time together: “Something amazing came together at the Creation in Crisis conference! Forced to adapt to delivery by livestreaming under the conditions of pandemic, instead of cancelling the WTS team succeeded in providing the daylong conference to grateful participants from across the country. The presentations were contextual related to the pandemic, fascinating to the participants, substantive in scientific content, practical in providing real-to-life examples, and engaging with calls to action for climate justice.”
This one-day digital conference was offered as a result of Wartburg’s grant award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to participate in the Science for Seminaries project of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion (DoSER) Program.
Dr. Nalini Nadkarni and her work in the Costa Rican rain forest were featured in the 1988 PBS series, The Second Voyage of the Mimi, starring a young Ben Affleck. She maintains an interest in public outreach, and her work was highlighted on the web page of the National Science Foundation. She is the author of Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees and has delivered TED Talks on Conserving the Canopy and Life Science in Prison. An Emeritus Professor at The Evergreen State College, she currently is a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Utah.
Dr. Larry L. Rasmussen is Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He is the author of Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key (Oxford University Press, 2013). He served as a member of the Science, Ethics, and Religion Advisory Committee of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). He was a recipient of many awards including the Burnice Fjellman Award for Distinguished Christian Ministries in Higher Education. From 1990-2000 he served as co-moderator of the World Council of Churches unit, Justice, Peace, Creation. He was the organizer of the decade project on Earth-Honoring Faith at Ghost Ranch, 2008 – 2017. In the Spring Semester 2018 he was guest professor at Union Theological Seminary and Yale University Divinity School. In the summer session of 2019 he taught in Cambridge University, England.