A Christian Approach to Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change
Featuring Dr. Douglas Wiens and
Rev. Dr. Charles Arand
Presentation Summary
Christians have a wide variety of views on our responsibility for nurturing and preserving God’s creation. In recent years, climate change—and humanity’s response to it —has become an especially controversial topic. Yet there is a strong scriptural and theological basis for environmental stewardship, going back to the book of Genesis, and reinforced through centuries of Christian thought. In this presentation, Dr. Wiens will briefly examine the scientific evidence that human activity is strongly influencing Earth’s climate, as well as the implications of these changes for our children and grandchildren. He will then explore how the Christian community can respond in ways that faithfully reflect Christ’s teachings and our calling to be stewards of God’s creation.
There is no cost to attend, but please let us know that you’re planning on coming.
About the Presenters
Dr. Doug Wiens
Dr. Douglas Wiens is the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches a popular undergraduate course on natural disasters. He earned a B.A. in Physics from Wheaton College, and a PhD in Geophysics from Northwestern University, where he studied earthquakes beneath the oceans.
Doug has remained on the faculty at Washington University throughout his career, except for visiting appointments in Australia, Japan, and Washington DC. His research has taken him around the globe, including eight scientific expeditions to Antarctica, where he deployed geophysical instruments across the continent to investigate its geological history and the dynamics of the ice sheet. He is currently investigating the loss of Antarctic glacial ice, as well as the likely response of the continent to future ice loss expected over the coming decades and centuries.
Beyond polar research, Doug has also led oceanographic expeditions that deployed instruments on the seafloor near the Mariana, Tonga, and Alaska trenches along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Doug is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the leading professional organization in his field. In 2014, he received the Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in recognition of his pioneering research on the structure of the earth beneath the seafloor. Doug has been married to Debra for 44 years, and they enjoy spending time with their two children and three grandchildren.
Rev. Dr. Charles Arand
Dr. Charles P. Arand has taught at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, since 1989. His work focuses on the Lutheran Confessions and the theology of creation. He served as the primary drafter of Together with All Creatures: Caring for God’s Living Earth for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations. His interests also include Christian engagement with science and how we understand our place within the cosmos revealed by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
Presenting on Protecting Our Environment and Climate
Beginning with Luther’s confession in the Small Catechism that “God has made me together with all creatures,” Dr. Charles Arand will trace its implications through the Christian story. The lives of human and nonhuman creatures are bound together in creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. Within this story, we discover both what we share with our fellow creatures and the distinctive calling God gives us among them. In conversation with Professor Doug Wiens, Arand will explore how our common creatureliness and distinctive calling belong together, shaping the way we inhabit and care for God’s living earth.