“Fear, Death and Doxology” – with John Wood including an ASA Update and Discussion!

Monday September 13, 2021, 7:00 – 9:00 pm MDT, Colorado Christian University, Leprino Hall Rm. 206, and online

If joining online use this link - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88196618154

Death and the Fall?  Death and evolution?  Some people are passionate about these topics, others are thoughtful and curious.  Whatever your thoughts, come and join us at CCU for a talk on this by Prof. John Wood, ASA’s Interim Executive Director.  John’s interest and expertise in this field is described below.  And, after John’s talk, we will switch topics to the ASA itself.  We are honored to have both top leaders of the ASA here in Denver for a couple days, and they want to meet with YOU.  Along with John will be Vicki Best, Director of Operations and Development.  They will give us all a view of the latest progress and initiatives within ASA, and they want to hear your ideas and questions.  We’ll send along a link to the online access a few days before Sept 13.

Fear, Death and Doxology - In the Beginning Was Fear”

Fear, it has been said, “is the worm at the core” of human self-hood. But not just any fear – rather the mortal fear and deep self-awareness of physical death. The fear of the Lord may be the beginning of wisdom, yet few theological studies bridge us to the insights of ecology or the creative role of fear outlined in the social sciences. Predation is about more than dying; being afraid shapes us. In our field work my colleagues and I explore the ecological and behavioral basis of fear and death in regulating populations and shaping ecosystems.

The traditional, Enlightenment-based narrative about death arriving at the fall of Adam and Eve is proving unhelpful in the face of contemporary organismal and medical sciences. It leads to entrenched camps, deep hermeneutical impasse, and seeming impotence in the face of secular challenges. Can we see the glory of God in these darker aspects of creation? Today theologians are rethinking death. And together we are reading the creation narratives with an eye to better understanding how the world works and our role in caring for it.

John is the interim director of the ASA and a past president of the executive council. He is Emeritus Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at The King’s University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he developed internship-based Environmental Studies degree programs. His research is in population and urban ecology. And he has written on our “disgusting” cultural blind spot to accepting edible (food) insects as one aspect of Western exceptionalism. John’s current writing is on the role of fear and physical death in creation care. He was in administration at The King’s University and The Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. During his career he was also a certified environmental science/studies program reviewer for ECO Canada.

At CCU, please park in the Mile-Hi Church parking lot closest to Leprino Hall.  CCU has no mask requirement, so please use your own discretion.