A couple months have passed since my last blog post. Now that the website is fully functional, I’ve kept busy adding text posts, editing dates, and writing “how-to website guides” for future interns. School at California Lutheran has especially kept me busy. Since I’m majoring in environmental science, I took multiple eco-classes last semester, including environmental literature, geology, and an eco-inspired religion class. These courses allowed me to reflect on the main objectives of EcoFaith Recovery and see Creation from multiple perspectives.
My Religion Identity and Vocation class was the most correlated to EcoFaith. The instructor, Lisa Dahill was the co-editor of Eco-Reformation, a novel committed to foster ecological justice in the ELCA. It certainly felt like fate when I realized Dahill knew Pastor Robyn and when I uploaded an Eco-Reformation blog review onto the website. For my final paper, I decided to analyze Christianity’s Influence on The American Wilderness Concept. I read the first chapter of Dahill’s novel for research, titled A Theology of Creation, written by David Rhoads. In the section, Rhoads desires a revolution that will shift the focus of church to an Earth-friendly, creation-centered theology, a similar goal to that of EcoFaith Recovery.
I read/skimmed multiple other sources in preparation for my final, including Caring for Creation by Max Oelschlaeger. He envisions an ecumenical approach to the environmental crisis. Oelschlaeger imagines the politics of environmentalism to be based in religion and desires the active participation of the church. In the novel, he lists church-related educational activities that can be used in nature worship.
The various eco-classes I took this semester, including environmental literature, geology, and an eco-inspired religion class have definitely broadened my perspective on Lutheran’s interaction with wilderness. Like many of the environmental authors, I believe it is our moral responsibility to protect and preserve nature. This directly ties into the main purpose of EcoFaith, to recover human life and heal God’s Creation. As I continue with my internship, I attend to pull from the valuable sources and teachings I’ve obtained this year.
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