God and Nature Spring 2019
letter from the editor-in-chief
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By Sy Garte
Welcome, Spring! And welcome to all readers of this Spring 2019 issue of God and Nature. April is Earth Month, and Earth Day is coming up! It’s entirely appropriate therefore that the focus topic for this issue is Creation Care and the Environment. We have heard about our environment for many decades, and the subject of Creation Care is a major theme among Christian scholars and writers.
There are five essays on this critical topic, and they all bring fresh and interesting insights. Each piece is of course about our shared environment from a Christian perspective, but I feel they all present a new way of looking at this enormously important issue.
First we have Ruth Bancewicz of the Faraday Institute with a discussion of what it’s like to talk about environmentalism with salt-of-the-earth folks, and where the true responsibility lies. Johnny Lin follows with a similar theme on how to interact with those whose hearts are not fully in the environmentalist camp. John Garvey presents his views on scriptural and historical treatments of how the environment was (or was not) affected by the Fall. Ray Lewis gives us a thorough grounding in the critically important biological mechanism for converting energy from the sun into the power of life. Finally, I pitch in my own two cents (I am, after all, a former professor of Environmental Health) on how time is an important factor when considering environmental change.
We also have an essay on the all-important issue of textbook quality for science education in a Christian context by Jeffrey Mays; Paul H. Carr discusses the concept of energy from scientific and spiritual viewpoints, and Eric Kincanon gives us another treatment of time in the context of God’s creation, with a thorough discussion of Leibniz's and Newton's views.
Ann Gauger inaugurates the new regular feature “Declare the Glory,” with a breathtaking and inspiring video - "Lux Dei". This new regular feature will host photos and videos of scientific subjects accompanied by explanatory texts. Future issues will have telescopic and microscopic photography, mixed media treatments, or any other form of nonverbal doxology in a scientific context. If you are interested in submitting something for this feature, please drop me a line at [email protected].
Mike Clifford’s “Across the Pond” column shares an interview about the environment with the people who have the most to gain or lose: our youth. (Mike’s column is a regular feature, but in this issue we also have Jon Garvey and Ruth Bancewicz representing our British colleagues.)
Tom Oord presents the first installment of the regular photo column “Theological Photo Essays” celebrating our beautiful natural world, accompanied by his unique commentary.
We also have a fascinating art piece by Mark Anthony Rivera featuring an images of Jesus and an explanation of how digital imaging works in bringing our Lord to life (in the photographic sense).
We are blessed with two special poems by special people. The first is by the Editor of this magazine, Aniko Albert, and the second is by Kregel Publications editor, Joel Armstrong. I found both poems to be uplifting and beautiful, and I think you will agree.
As always, please consider sending in an essay, poem, artwork, or story to God and Nature. Future focus topics include Science in the Pews, Physical and Spiritual Health, and Philosophy of Science and Faith. Again, essays outside of any focus topic are always welcome. Please enjoy this issue, Happy Easter, and blessings to all.
Sy Garte Ph.D. Biochemistry, is Editor-in-Chief of God and Nature since Spring 2018. He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He was also Associate Director at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. He is the author of five books, over 200 scientific papers, and articles in PSCF, God and Nature and The BioLogos Forum. Sy is Vice President of the Washington DC Chapter of the ASA. His blog is www.thebookofworks.com.
Welcome, Spring! And welcome to all readers of this Spring 2019 issue of God and Nature. April is Earth Month, and Earth Day is coming up! It’s entirely appropriate therefore that the focus topic for this issue is Creation Care and the Environment. We have heard about our environment for many decades, and the subject of Creation Care is a major theme among Christian scholars and writers.
There are five essays on this critical topic, and they all bring fresh and interesting insights. Each piece is of course about our shared environment from a Christian perspective, but I feel they all present a new way of looking at this enormously important issue.
First we have Ruth Bancewicz of the Faraday Institute with a discussion of what it’s like to talk about environmentalism with salt-of-the-earth folks, and where the true responsibility lies. Johnny Lin follows with a similar theme on how to interact with those whose hearts are not fully in the environmentalist camp. John Garvey presents his views on scriptural and historical treatments of how the environment was (or was not) affected by the Fall. Ray Lewis gives us a thorough grounding in the critically important biological mechanism for converting energy from the sun into the power of life. Finally, I pitch in my own two cents (I am, after all, a former professor of Environmental Health) on how time is an important factor when considering environmental change.
We also have an essay on the all-important issue of textbook quality for science education in a Christian context by Jeffrey Mays; Paul H. Carr discusses the concept of energy from scientific and spiritual viewpoints, and Eric Kincanon gives us another treatment of time in the context of God’s creation, with a thorough discussion of Leibniz's and Newton's views.
Ann Gauger inaugurates the new regular feature “Declare the Glory,” with a breathtaking and inspiring video - "Lux Dei". This new regular feature will host photos and videos of scientific subjects accompanied by explanatory texts. Future issues will have telescopic and microscopic photography, mixed media treatments, or any other form of nonverbal doxology in a scientific context. If you are interested in submitting something for this feature, please drop me a line at [email protected].
Mike Clifford’s “Across the Pond” column shares an interview about the environment with the people who have the most to gain or lose: our youth. (Mike’s column is a regular feature, but in this issue we also have Jon Garvey and Ruth Bancewicz representing our British colleagues.)
Tom Oord presents the first installment of the regular photo column “Theological Photo Essays” celebrating our beautiful natural world, accompanied by his unique commentary.
We also have a fascinating art piece by Mark Anthony Rivera featuring an images of Jesus and an explanation of how digital imaging works in bringing our Lord to life (in the photographic sense).
We are blessed with two special poems by special people. The first is by the Editor of this magazine, Aniko Albert, and the second is by Kregel Publications editor, Joel Armstrong. I found both poems to be uplifting and beautiful, and I think you will agree.
As always, please consider sending in an essay, poem, artwork, or story to God and Nature. Future focus topics include Science in the Pews, Physical and Spiritual Health, and Philosophy of Science and Faith. Again, essays outside of any focus topic are always welcome. Please enjoy this issue, Happy Easter, and blessings to all.
Sy Garte Ph.D. Biochemistry, is Editor-in-Chief of God and Nature since Spring 2018. He has been a Professor of Public Health and Environmental Health Sciences at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He was also Associate Director at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. He is the author of five books, over 200 scientific papers, and articles in PSCF, God and Nature and The BioLogos Forum. Sy is Vice President of the Washington DC Chapter of the ASA. His blog is www.thebookofworks.com.