Christianity and the Environment

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Martin Hodson</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martin Hodson"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Christianity and the Environment</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="113b51a0.jpg" border=0 width="181" height="282" ALT="Cherishing the Earth" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10"></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.hodsons.org/cherishingtheearth/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.hodsons.org/cherishingtheeart"><U><B>Cherishing the Earth</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=398 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Christianity and the Environment</I></div> <div> Little did I think back in 1990 when I  first got involved in <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.sageoxford.org.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.sageoxford.org.uk"><U>Sage</U></A></FONT>, Oxford's Christian environmental group, that this area would eventually become one of my teaching and research areas.</div> <bR> <div> In 2003 I became involved in writing a module for the Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies (<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="cres.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="CRES"><U>CRES</U></A></FONT>) a joint initiative of <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.cruc.org.uk/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.cruc.org.uk/"><U>Christian Rural Concern</U></A></FONT> and <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.jri.org.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.jri.org.uk"><U>The John Ray Initiative</U></A></FONT>. On February 5th 2004 I took over from Dr. Peter Carruthers as co-director of the course, and am now Principal Tutor. I wrote a module “Physical Environment”, with Sir John Houghton, and successfully moved the accreditation from Keele University to <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.rcc.ac.uk/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rcc.ac.uk/"><U>Ripon College, Cuddesdon</U></A></FONT>, nr. Oxford (May 2005). It is an exciting venture for me as it combines my interests in the Christian environmental movement with my skills in course management. It is also my first venture into distance learning.</div> <bR> <div> In the summer of 2006 I first lectured (with my wife, Margot) for the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://osp.bestsemester.com/overview.asp" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://osp.bestsemester.com/overview.asp"><U>Oxford Summer Program</U></A></FONT>, which brings over students from American Christian universities for a month long summer school. In 2007 we co-led a topical seminar series on “The Bible and the Environment.”, and we have continued this association with the program in 2008 and 2009.</div> <bR> <div> In February and March 2008 I was the resident scientist on the Christian climate change tour “<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.hopeforplanetearth.moonfruit.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.hopeforplanetearth.moonfruit."><U>Hope for Planet Earth</U></A></FONT>”. We travelled the UK, visiting 20 venues and speaking to 3,000 adults and 5,000 high school students. We are doing another tour in February and March 2009- see “<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.hopeforplanetearth.moonfruit.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.hopeforplanetearth.moonfruit."><U>Hope for Planet Earth</U></A></FONT>”.</div> <bR> <div> My work in this area has so far resulted in two publications, a survey of environmental theology courses in Europe, and a book at semi-popular level, which I co-authored with my wife, Margot:</div> <bR> <div> HODSON, M.J. (2007) Environmental theology courses in Europe- Where are we now? In "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.sageoxford.org.uk/envtheology.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.sageoxford.org.uk/envtheology"><U>The Place of Environmental Theology</U></A></FONT>: A guide for seminaries, colleges and universities." (eds. Weaver, J., Hodson, M.R.). Published jointly by the Whitley Trust, UK and IBTS, Prague.  pp. 107-120.</div> <bR> <div> HODSON, M.J. & HODSON, M.R. (2008) <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.hodsons.org/cherishingtheearth/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.hodsons.org/cherishingtheeart"><U>Cherishing the Earth. How to care for God's Creation.</U></A></FONT> Monarch Books, Oxford.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>