Developing an ecotheology of critical hope in Cascadia
Last November, I had the opportunity to preach at my Friends meeting, North Valley Friends. I was asked to share about Query 19 in our Faith & Practice document, which has to do with being a Christian steward of God's creation. A re-visioning of the Parable of the Tenants came to me then, and I …
I'm grateful for the community we have at North Valley Friends, and I wrote about it for the August issue of Friends Journal. This issue focused on the theme of Quaker Spaces, and in my article, "It's the Spirit that Makes It Beautiful," I shared about how our worship space isn't the most up-to-date, or …
Continue reading "Friends Journal, Quaker Spaces, and Civic Ecology"
Last week I had the opportunity to present a paper at the Christian Feminism Today conference in Indianapolis, IN. This was my first time at this gathering, which has been meeting every other year since the 1970s. I found the community welcoming and so supportive of a newbie to the group! The group included many …
Continue reading "Re-storying and re-membering at the Christian Feminism Today Conference"
Today at our GreenFaith retreat included a presentation and discussion with Erin Lothes Biviano, professor at the College of St. Elizabeth, about what motivates faith-based individuals and congregations to act on their environmental beliefs. This was fascinating and I want to read more of her work. We did read two of her articles: "Worldviews on …
I'm currently in Garrison, NY, serving as a GreenFaith fellow. This is our second of three retreats together, and this one is at a beautiful and simple former monastery called the Garrison Institute, about an hour and a half from New York City. GreenFaith is an organization that encourages and facilitates interfaith action on environmental …
My article, "Climatologists, Theologians, & Prophets: Toward an Ecotheology of Critical Hope," was published in the peer-reviewed journal Cross Currents and appeared online today. I am excited to share my work with interested readers. According to the copyright policy, I cannot post the PDF here, but I can send it to you if you request it, …
My review of Todd Wynward's excellent book, Rewilding the Way: Break Free to Follow an Untamed God appears in the upcoming issue of Sojourners, and you can read the review online for the next several days here. The book is excellent! Its main point is that as current-day American Christians, we are woefully tame compared …
Continue reading "Rewilding the Way book review published by Sojourners"
After spending some time explaining the words for and concepts surrounding "hope" in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the ancient Greek story of Pandora, and in Aristotle, I'm now ready to share with you what I found out when I did a study of the word we translate "hope" in the Christian Testament. This is the same …
As a native Oregonian, hikes in the Cascades and the Coast Range dot my childhood memories. My family and I, as a child and now with my own children, have taken trips to central Oregon's high desert, the agricultural areas of eastern Washington and Oregon, the Wallowa Mountains, southern Oregon, and the spectacular North Cascades …
Continue reading "Cascadia, the Elusive Utopia: book review, part 1"
In developing an ecotheology of critical hope, one of the things that is important is to understand what the biblical authors mean when they're discussing hope in the Bible. After doing research on the concept of hope in psychology, I found this framework of hope useful, but not a sufficient understanding of hope from a …
Continue reading "“Hope” in ancient Greek: Pandora and the Greek goddess Elpis"
Cherice Bock 