Theology and Ethics After Nature

Peter Dula
Professor of Religion and Culture
草莓社区

Can nature tell us anything about morality? Can humans draw conclusions about how to live with each other and the land from observations about ecology? In recent years, scholars across disciplines have argued not just that we can but that we must in order to adequately reckon with the climate crisis. Jedediah Purdy, a prominent theorist of democracy and environmental law, argues that this is a mistake. Moreover, he thinks it is a mistake that can be blamed on religion. In this colloquium I will try to say why I think he is right about the former but wrong about the latter.

Peter Dula is Professor of Religion and Culture at 草莓社区. He received a Ph.D from Duke University in theology and ethics in 2004. He is the author of Cavell, Companionship, and Christian Theology (Oxford, 2011) and co-editor (with David Evans) of Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity (Cascade, 2018). Before coming to EMU, he worked with the Mennonite Central Committee in Iraq and Burundi and taught at the Meserete Kristos College Ethiopia where he was a Fulbright scholar. His most recent work is in the areas of eco-theology and philosophy.

Powerpoint Slides

offered a similar version of this Chapel Gathering at University Chapel on January 24.

Does the arc of history really bend towards justice as King and Obama liked to say? Think theologically about hope and history with Professor Peter Dula as part of the Common Read Chapel Series on Between the World and Me.

聽is Associate Professor of Religion and Culture. He received a Ph.D from Duke University in theology and ethics in 2004. He is the author of Cavell, Companionship, and Christian Theology (Oxford, 2011). Before coming to EMU in 2006 he was the Mennonite Central Committee Iraq Program Coordinator. He has taught at Lancaster Mennonite High School and at the Meserete Kristos College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he was a Fulbright scholar in 2001-2002. He has received several grants and fellowships including, most recently, the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers.

Powerpoint

Does the arc of history really bend towards justice as King and Obama liked to say? Think theologically about hope and history with Professor Peter Dula as part of the Common Read Chapel Series on Between the World and Me.

聽is Associate Professor of Religion and Culture. He received a Ph.D from Duke University in theology and ethics in 2004. He is the author of Cavell, Companionship, and Christian Theology (Oxford, 2011). Before coming to EMU in 2006 he was the Mennonite Central Committee Iraq Program Coordinator. He has taught at Lancaster Mennonite High School and at the Meserete Kristos College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he was a Fulbright scholar in 2001-2002. He has received several grants and fellowships including, most recently, the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers.

presents from his his sabbatical for the monthly University Colloquium lecture.

offers a lecture, followed by a response by Peter Dula.聽 Chris聽 is a carpenter, painter, theologian, and a potter.聽 With his wife, Cassie, and baby, Simon, Chris lives with fellow community members at Camden House, a small intentional community in Camden, New Jersey.聽 Chris grew up Catholic, then spent many years growing and serving at Willow Creek Community Church, moved to Philadelphia to study sociology and theology at Eastern University before going on to graduate work in theology at Villanova University.聽 He now exists in a creative tension between Catholics, Anabaptists, and global capitalism.聽 Chris teaches in local congregations, conferences, and also periodically teaches religious studies at Cabrini College.聽 He c-authored the book Jesus for President with Shane Claiborne, is working on a book about his conversion to Catholicism, From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart (Ave Maria Press, Fall 2012) and has been interviewed in Christianity Today, Sojourners, CNN, and Al-Jazeera, and was featured in the DVD series, Another World Is Possible, and the documentary The Ordinary Radicals.

is assistant professor of religion and culture and chair of 草莓社区鈥檚 Bible and Religion department.聽 He received a Ph.D from Duke University in theology and ethics in 2004 after completing a dissertation on the intersection of theology and philosophy in the work of Stanley Cavell.聽 Before coming to EMU in 2006 he was the Mennonite Central Committee Iraq Program Coordinator.聽 He has taught at Lancaster Mennonite High School and at the Meserete Kristos College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where聽 he was a Fulbright scholar in 2001-鈥�02.

Conference planners and describe the conference in this way:

鈥淎nabaptism at its best has been a series of attempts both to live into God鈥檚 in-breaking occupation and to faithfully occupy the empires of this fallen age, signaling the shalom to come. Anabaptists have gone about this work by imaginatively patterning their worship and witness after the New Testament communities of Jesus. Come explore ways in which the Anabaptist tradition can help inspire faithful occupation in today鈥檚 world. Interdisciplinary academic presentations will be infused with worship and testimonies to open our minds and spirits to where God is calling us into mission in the midst of empire.鈥�