According to Harvard’s Chika O. Okafor, the next pro-life argument will be green. Here is his piece at Lebanon (NH) Valley News:...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
environment
The Author’s Corner with Thomas Blake Earle
Thomas Blake Earle is Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University at Galveston. This interview is based on his new book, The Liberty to Take Fish: Atlantic Fisheries and Federal Power in Nineteenth-Century America (Cornell University Press, 2023). JF:...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
When governors and business leaders sought to protect natural resources and “conserve the foundations of our prosperity”
Over Zocalo Public Square, environmental historian Adam Sowards calls our attention to the 1908 Conference of Governors held in Washington D.C. Here is a taste of his piece “When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental Catastrophe”: At...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Ideas in progress: David O’Hara on interdisciplinary humanities, sustainability, and bees
Social media can be depressing, but as Andrea Turpin reminded a while back, having a secret list of “Deeply Good People” can be a helpful way to bring to the fore the encouraging content. And some of the most encouraging...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Pope Francis on “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts”
Here is Claire Giangravé at Religion News Service: Pope Francis condemned “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts” as responsible for the climate crisis in his yearly message for World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which occurs on Sept....
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
The Author’s Corner with Joseph Giacomelli
Joseph Giacomelli is Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University. This interview is based on his new book, Uncertain Climes: Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America (University of Chicago Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Episode 47: What Are “Moral Issues?”
And does the Christian Right have a sole claim on them? Episode 47: “What Are ‘Moral Issues?’” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Yesterday’s passing of a climate change bill is a step in the right direction
Good news for those of us who care about the planet. Here is Robinson Meyer’s piece at The Atlantic: Climate change was born as a modern political issue in the United States Senate. On a hot June day in 1988,...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Catholic social teaching as an alternative to neoliberalism
Anthony Annett of Fordham University articulates the differences between neoliberalism and Catholic social teaching. Here are some of those differences: Neoliberalism defines human motivation in terms of self-interest. Catholic social teaching defines human motivation in terms of “solidarity, reciprocity, and...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Evangelicals seem to be coming around on climate change
In 2007, Richard Cizik, then vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, came under attack from some prominent evangelicals for his opposition to global warming. Jerry Falwell Sr. described evangelicals concerned with climate change as “earthism worshippers.” James Dobson called...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
God $ Green
If you want to know how American evangelicals have come to reject climate change watch “God $ Green: An Unholy Alliance,” a video from the University of Virginia’s Religion, Race & Democracy Lab. It includes commentary from American historian Darren...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
My case for Joe Biden
Many have asked me to weigh-in on the election. Let me begin by saying that my choice of a candidate was not difficult. Donald Trump is immoral. He is a pathological liar. He is a narcissist. He is a racist...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
How did the court evangelicals respond to last night’s debate?
They loved it, of course. Let’s begin, one more time, with American religious historian Grant Wacker from his biography of Billy Graham: The crucial point is that Graham continued to defend Nixon long after most Americans smelled a rat. When...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Michelle Obama’s DNC convention speech was deeply Christian
After the first night of the Democratic National Convention I tuned into Fox News. Laura Ingraham was on the air and, as might be expected, she was trashing the convention. I stopped watching after about forty minutes of analysis from...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Does “End-Time Apathy” Explain Why So Many Evangelicals Don’t Care About the Environment?
If Jesus is coming back at any moment to “rapture” his church, why should evangelicals care about the environment? As religious studies scholar Robin Globus Veldman writes, this theory has been “widely accepted” by environmentalists to explain evangelical apathy about...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
NPR Tackles Environmentalism and Evangelicalism
The story focuses on Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and the attack on Richard Cizik‘s promotion of creation care....
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Why Christians Should Be Concerned About Climate Change
Last night I went to a George Will lecture on campus and listened to him question whether climate change was man-made. (This was not the focus of his lecture, but the subject came-up during the Q&A period). When it comes...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Overcoming Fear with Hope: On Climate Change
Jonathan Franzen’s recent New Yorker essay on climate change is sobering. But is also hopeful. Franzen argues that we are investing too much time and money into trying to reverse the consequences of climate change when it is probably too late...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Katherine Hayhoe: Climate Scientist and Evangelical
The Washington Post is running a really interesting piece on Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and an evangelical Christian. (Her spouse is a Christian author, pastor, and radio host). Those evangelicals who want to reach public...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)
Joseph Ellis: The Founding Fathers Wanted a Green New Deal
Would the founding fathers have supported a Green New Deal? I have no idea. But historian Joseph Ellis‘s thoughts at CNN are worth considering here. A taste: From the very beginning, there were critics who challenged the claim that “We...
(To access this content, become a member or log in.)