I was just in New York City the past few days visiting a friend–and, in case you haven’t been watching the news, it has been HOT here on the East Coast! NYC was even worse than Gettysburg, of course, because of the concrete: you could hardly ever catch a breeze. My friend Whitney and I…… Continue reading The Witness of Ramadan
"Like a Much-loved Child at Home"
I have been working on a presentation I hope to give this fall in Istanbul, at a conference on the work of Turkish Muslim theologian Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, whom I have really enjoyed reading. His major work is the Risale-i Nur, a commentary on the Qur’an, and in it he seeks to demonstrate how the…… Continue reading "Like a Much-loved Child at Home"
Protecting Chimpanzees and the Imago Dei
I am leaving on vacation today, but I wanted to share a quick post before I go, on this article in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/science/goal-of-broader-protection-for-chimpanzees-emerges-from-changing-perspectives.html?pagewanted=allIt describes the proposal by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to add chimpanzees in captivity to the endangered species list. What this would do is block most experimentation on…… Continue reading Protecting Chimpanzees and the Imago Dei
Fallingwater
We finished the day yesterday at Fallingwater, the house designed by Frank Lloyd Wrigt in the 1930s and meant to complement and echo the natural surrounding of the rocks and the water. The Kaufman family wanted to be able to SEE the falls from the house–Wright wanted the falls to BE a part of the…… Continue reading Fallingwater
Bird Calls at Powdermill Nature Reserve
We started our day today visiting Powdermill Nature Reserve, which is the research arm of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. In particular, we heard a presentation from Amy, a scientist who is studying bird calls–not songs, but the short (1 second or so) flight calls birds make when they migrate. So, they use micronets…… Continue reading Bird Calls at Powdermill Nature Reserve
Old Growth Forest
Here are some pictures from an old growth forest we hiked today, as well as a “wilderness area”–that is actually a specific designation, by legislative action, which means that humans can’t manage the land at all: the natural life and death cycles of the animals and plants are allowed to take their course. Somehow to…… Continue reading Old Growth Forest
Terra Dei
This is “Terra Dei,” a sustainable house here on the camp campus. They have solar panels, a compost toilet, and the walls actually are straw bales–very cool. I also loved the bike hooked up to a battery–twenty minutes of biking can power a tv for 2 hours! (I wonder if I can get little Henry…… Continue reading Terra Dei
"Earth Your Dancing Place"
I think I have mentioned before that poetry is not my favorite literary genre. Sure, there are certain poems and poets I love [Gerard Manley Hopkins and Mary Oliver are at the very top of my list], but I’m pretty conventional in my tastes, and I don’t have the sophisticated tools I would need to…… Continue reading "Earth Your Dancing Place"
Things That are Hidden
I am here in Vancouver–spectacularly beautiful–for a conference on Pure Land Buddhism; and before the conference started this afternoon, my friend Richard and I visited the Museum of Anthropology. It was a gorgeous, interesting museum–most of it devoted to First Nations peoples. I am still thinking about all I saw, but this piece stayed with…… Continue reading Things That are Hidden
Happy Lutheran 