Environmentalists, philosophers, scientists and theologians have different understandings of the ethics of nature/creation. Interdisciplinary conversation is key to understanding the ecological crisis and the different scholarly narratives of the threats it poses to other than human species, to human communities dwelling on the earth, and to the relationship of humanity to God.

Join us for this lecture series focused on the different ways in which the ethics of nature is explored within and between the disciplines of natural science and theological ethics.

Thanks for the Dirt: Putting Environmental Ethics to Work
Friday, April 8, 4 p.m.
Love Auditorium, Levine Science and Research Center
Norman Wirzba, professor of philosophy, Georgetown College
response by William Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Science

Only a Theory? Evolution and the Struggle for America’s Soul
Friday, April 15, 4 p.m.
Duke Divinity Schoo1, 0016 Westbrook
Kenneth Miller, professor of biology & evolution, Brown University
response by Ellen Davis, professor of Bible and practical theology, Duke Divinity School

Writing Straight with Crooked Lines: Ecological Theology & Theodicy
Thursday, April 21, 3 p.m.
Duke Divinity School
Lisa Sideris, professor of environment & religious studies, McGill University
response by Norm Christensen, professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School

The End of Environmentalism? Apocalyptic Christians and the Morality of Dominion
Thursday, April 28, 12:20 p.m.
Love Auditorium, Levine Science and Research Center
Michael Northcott, reader in theology & ethics, University of Edinburgh
response by Rob Jackson, professor of environmental sciences and biology

Thanks for the Dirt: Putting Environmental Ethics to Work
Friday, April 8, 4 p.m.
Love Auditorium, Levine Science and Research Center
Norman Wirzba, professor of philosophy, Georgetown College
response by William Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Science

Norman Wirzba will in this lecture address the gap between environmental belief in relation to the roles of activists and scholars. He will consider how dispositions of gratitude can motivate people to care for natural habitats and organisms. Wirzba will also explore the role ecologists can play in fostering this disposition, and develop a response to the claim that nature, because of its apparent indifference to us, does not warrant our gratitude.

Dr. Wirzba will also be delivering a public lecture on April 7 at Duke Divinity School.

Only a Theory? Evolution and the Struggle for America’s Soul
Friday, April 15, 4 p.m.
Duke Divinity School, 0016 Westbrook
Kenneth Miller, professor of biology & evolution, Brown University

Kenneth Miller argues that a new challenge to evolution has risen across America in the form of an idea called “intelligent design,” that is, the assertion that living organisms are too complex to have arisen from the random workings of evolution alone and that some intelligent power must have designed those organisms. Its proponents argue that intelligent design is a scientific theory deserving of teaching in science classrooms, but others maintain that the theory is simply a version of creationism.  Miller will examine the question of whether design presents a realistic scientific alternative to evolution, and consider how the scientific and educational communities might react to this new challenge to evolution.

Writing Straight with Crooked Lines: Ecological Theology & Theodicy
Thursday, April 21, 3 p.m.
Duke Divinity School
Lisa Sideris, professor of environment & religious studies, McGill University
response by Norm Christensen, professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School

In this lecture, Lisa Sideris will attempt to find a middle ground between Darwinian and Christian perspectives on suffering and particularly the “problem” of predation. She will argue that the key to reconciling science and religion on this issue lies in adopting what Holmes Rolston calls a “systemic” perspective. This approach recognizes that conflicts between suffering individual organisms and the natural systems in which they are embedded cannot be resolved in ways that always guarantee compensation for individual pain and loss. Nevertheless, Sideris will suggest that scientists and Christians have reason to believe the natural order is a good one.

The End of Environmentalism? Apocalyptic Christians and the Morality of Dominion
Thursday, April 28, 12:20 p.m.
Love Auditorium, Levine Science and Research Center
Michael Northcott, reader in theology & ethics, University of Edinburgh
response by Rob Jackson, professor of environmental sciences and biology

Some people are talking about the failure of traditional environmentalism in light of recent roll backs in environmental regulation in the United States. Conservative Christians on Capitol Hill and in the White House are often strong advocates of this roll back. In this lecture, Michael Northcott will investigate the reasons why many do not see the destruction of nature as a moral problem on par with front-line issues such as abortion or stem cell research. He will also examine the potential for the social witness of the church to engage with the ecological travail of the earth.