check out the new website

For more of my thoughts, please follow me at Ikon Conversations. Thanks!

E. O. Wilson on Our Dependence on Creation/Nature

Have you ever had an experience in a wilderness area or a forest or at the beach that changed your life? Lots of people have had them. Why does unspoiled Nature have such an attraction to us? In my case, I feel rejuvenated and relaxed after I run along Rock Creek in D.C. It’s not just “runners high,” mind you, because I don’t have the same experience as I run around a track. No, there’s something unique that happens in a park or unspoiled wilderness area.

E.O. Wilson takes up this question in chapter 7 of his book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (2006). My wife and I hosted a discussion group in our place this Sunday on his chapter, “Wild Nature and Human Nature.” A lot of us have had powerful spiritual experiences in wilderness areas, but we are at loss for words when we explain them to others.

This is the topic that Wilson addresses in chapter 7. In order to win us over to the project of saving creation, Wilson has to show us how important Nature is to our nature, development, and well-being. He wants us to understand how we neglect Nature at our own peril. Many people in the modern, industrial West are under the illusion that the man-made world (cities, cars, technology, etc.) they inhabit is the sum total of what’s important to their lives and well-being. In contrast to this complete dependence on technology, Wilson argues that we are actually just as dependent on Nature for the things that matter in life—including health, mental well-being, a sense of place, and deep spirituality.

Wilson also holds that our spiritual lives and aspirations are rooted in Nature. In one particularly powerful quote, he argues, “The spiritual roots of Homo Sapiens extend deep into the natural world through still mostly hidden channels of mental development. We will not reach our full potential without understanding the origin and hence meaning of the aesthetic and religious qualities that makes us ineffably human (p. 12).”

There’s a lot to reflect on in Wilson’s chapter. In the Christian tradition, many theologians and scientists of faith have argued that God communicates to humanity through two means: “The Book of Nature” and “The Book of Scripture.” Science can tell us about God’s work that is found in “The Book of Nature.” I find this way of thinking about God’s communication to us valuable and insightful, especially when I am reading Wilson’s illuminating theory of humanity’s relationship to Nature.

Through writings such as Wilson’s, we get a glimpse of a time when people of faith and people of science will be able to sit down at the same table and talk about what unites them (an awe of Creation, for example) rather than what divides them.

Think about how revolutionary that kind of reconciliation could be!

Science and Spirituality in E.O. Wilson's THE CREATION

Last night my wife and I hosted a lively book discussion on the first two chapters of E.O. Wilson’s The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (2006). Our book discussion group just started, and we are working our way through four interesting authors each of whom has a different perspective on the relationship between humans and nature. Three of the authors specifically are writing about the looming ecological crisis. I chose these books because they help us to grapple with the relationship between science and spirituality.

We are starting our discussion by examining the unique project of E.O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist, who is urging the science community and the faith community to work together to save the earth’s biodiversity. He writes his “appeal” to a hypothetical fundamentalist pastor who is not aware or concerned with the slow poisoning of the planet. Wilson argues that human activity is directly and indirectly wiping out species through spoiling wilderness areas, encouraging unsustainable agricultural practices, and climate change.

There were a number of reasons why the group thought that Wilson’s project was groundbreaking and exciting. First, he is attempting to build some bridges between communities that have sometimes been at odds (not for everyone, of course). Most of us thought that Wilson’s project was long overdue. We sense a hunger to integrate science and spirituality. Second, he’s made a pretty compelling argument that time is of the essence in both sides working out their differences. Earth’s biodiversity hangs in the balance. During the discussion we thought about some individual and corporate ways we can do our part. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was mentioned as one way to support positive change.

Wilson’s project is one part of some larger movements within the faith community and the science community to better understand and connect with each other. Through his initiative, groups of religious leaders and scientists are being challenged to rethink their relationships with each other. We live in a unique time, when the two communities are forced to grapple with the others’ perspective on truth and life. We no longer have the luxury of researching nature, or praying, in isolation. And that’s a good development.

Young Adults Doing Religion on Their Own? Blame It on Politics -- Politics Daily

Just spotted an interesting article on a study released by Pew on the religion of 20something adults: Young Adults Doing Religion on Their Own? Blame It on Politics -- Politics Daily


Appears that many 20 somethings are protesting the religious right by cutting their institutional ties to religious communities. When I read the article I had two thoughts. First, this should be a wake-up call to members of the religious right. In my experience, many members of the religious right do not understand how they come across to the American mainstream of society as they pursue their goals with a fiery rhetoric. It's a free country to engage in political activism, but at what cost are these successes coming? It looks like a whole generation is being alienated from faith communities as a result of this activism.

Second, I am wondering why 20 somethings are cutting their ties to all religious communities, when many of these communities do not support the religious right. There has to be more research on this topic. There are a few big questions that remain to be answered.

Report from the Ecclesia Conference: Dallas Willard & the Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is one of those phrases that pops up in the teaching of Jesus over and over again yet it is hard to define it exactly. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is always inviting his listeners to recognize and live in this reality he calls “the Kingdom of God.” But what is it? At the missional church gathering called Ecclesia that I attended recently, Dallas Willard gave his take on living out this important part of Jesus’ teaching.

Willard is a philosophy professor at USC who has written several key books on how the spiritual practices can bring your faith alive. According to Willard, the Kingdom of God is about embracing a certain perspective on the world and living in partnership with God. As you follow each of the challenging teachings of Jesus, you are forced to rely on God. You can’t do them alone. For example, to love your neighbor as yourself is impossible to truly practice on one’s own. But rather than throwing up our hands in frustration and walking away (or giving lip service to it but never doing it), we can partner with God to give it a try.

And as we partner with God to live out this teaching of Jesus we find that God provides the strength to take small steps in loving our neighbor as ourselves. This God-ability to love and care for others means we are living in the Kingdom. As we find that God is with us as our partner, we truly begin to understand and live in the Kingdom of God.

What I appreciated most about Willard’s message was his description of the experiential dimension to faith. Faith is never something that exists only in the head, but it comes about—it is known—as we take those first steps with God’s help. And as we take those steps, we experience the Kingdom at a deeper level.

Looking for a few good Snow-Panicked People for Good Morning America

Got interviewed by GOOD MORNING AMERICA yesterday. The munchkin and I were sledding down the steep slope at Ft. Reno, down the street from American University. The reporter obviously wanted me to be panicked about the upcoming "snowpocalypse" tonight with another 2 feet. They had a particular narrative they wanted people to support. "What are you going to do with your son while school's out?," he asked. "You're not worried about keeping him busy?" I said he wants to play in the snow so problem solved. Obviously, my comments did not support the meta-narrative being spun by the reporter (and hence I did not make the final cut although another Zuber did just fine).

Panic People, Two Feet of Snow is GOING TO CRUSH YOU!!!

At least that's what they wanted to hear.

You can see from this video who's the photogenic one in the family.

Justice and the WHY? Questions of the Haitian Earthquake

When the earthquake in Haiti hit, we all had a lot of why, where, and what questions: “Why did God allow this?,” “Why Haiti of all countries—it’s so poor already?,” “Where was/is God?,” and “What can I do?” This last question is one of the most significant on many levels. We should think long and hard about that question.

We can think about our response to victims of disaster in terms of either helping people temporarily or helping people over the long term to thrive (so that such a disaster can never happen again). The former position is a kind of charity, and the latter gets close to what I would call justice. And each of us has to ask what kind of response God expects of us.

When one of my friends from South Africa was asked recently to contribute a donation in church to earthquake relief, and he raised the point with his American friends in church leadership that charity alone was not an adequate response. He explained to them that he rejected both blaming God and only giving charity. He thought there were deeper questions to ask and a deeper response to pursue. To those who blamed God, he replied that blaming God “takes the human agency out of the human experience.” In other words, when we blame God we deflect our personal responsibility to address the disaster.

But he also argued that temporary charity was not enough either. He wrote: “We have more control over matters here on earth than we think. Jesus too, gave bread, wine and healings ... [but] usually attached with strong messages about communion and community in word and deed. I did give what I could in cash to my Church yesterday (Lord's Day) for Haiti relief. But how many disasters will it take for us to offer all humans the same earthquake-proof cities that we enjoy?” I like the way he says that Jesus gave bread and wine along with “strong messages about communion and community.” We frequently forgot those strong messages, don’t we? Or, we aren’t sure how to live out those messages.

My last blog post linked to a New York Times op-ed by Michael Danner, a writer on Haitian history who lists the innumerable ways that human choices, priorities, and actions (in Haiti, France, and the US) over the last 200 years rendered Haiti uniquely vulnerable to the earthquake. Danner’s analysis powerfully captures how human corruption and indifference can have deadly consequences. And why we should pray and act for a just world as followers of Christ.

To have faith in Christ should mean more than giving temporary charity. To have faith means to fully recognize all the sources of brokenness (personal, spiritual, economic, etc.) in our world, and then pray and act for the healing of that brokenness. Because of our talents, gifts, and experiences, each of us has a unique perspective on the brokenness in our world. And because of our unique resources, each can help with the healing.

Jesus invites us to experience both a new relationship with God and a new relationship with others. And that includes addressing the systemic reasons that earthquakes bring such deadly results in a country like Haiti. As my friend put it, Christ gave food to the hungry and “strong messages about communion and community” to his disciples. It’s up to his disciples to put those ideals of “communion and community” into practice. Sound like a tall order? It is. That’s why we need faith.