About this course
Recent decades have seen a growing awareness of the importance not just of how we relate to one another but also of how we relate to our environment, to the other creatures around us. Higher education is, among other things, a process of learning frameworks for how to view, understand, and act in the world. That heightened awareness of environmental harms, of the need to prioritize environmental sustainability, and of the destructive consequences of past assumptions about the relationship between human beings and the non-human creation have pushed Christians into sustained reflection about how Christian faith and environmental sustainability inform one another. This reflection does not have to start from scratch. Rather, an important starting point is fresh consideration of what the Scriptures say about the value of the created world beyond human interests and fresh examination of what past Christian thinkers had to say about how we should treat other creatures. It has also involved coming to terms with some previous interpretations of Scripture that legitimize exploitation of the non-human parts of creation.
In this course you will explore significant scriptural passages and reflections from past Christian thinkers as well as some examples of present-day scholarly reflection on issues surrounding faith and environmental sustainability. You will then encounter examples of Christian higher education faculty from different disciplines joining their faith to their scholarship and teaching specifically in connection with questions about care for creation. We hope that the course will prompt fresh reflection on your own relationship to the world around you and how your understanding of that relationship may impact your students.