Blog
Welcome to the new Yale Forum Blog!
We will be sharing a variety of original content including interviews, reviews, reports from the field, new and enhanced resources on the Forum website, content from our new video podcast series, FORE Spotlights, and much more.
Check back every Tuesday and Thursday for new content.
Today, we're happy to highlight a new publication by a recent Yale Divinity graduate. A Christian's Guide to Planet Earth by Betsy Painter ('22 MAR) was released from Zondervan last month. The book is a practical guide for environmentally-concerned people of faith, based on a firm scriptural foundation.
Read an adapted excerpt from the book titled “Reducing our carbon footprint is a way of loving others” on the Yale Divinity website. Read more and...
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his groundbreaking work in trans-Himalayan studies, exploring the ways religion and ecology intersect in the mountains, valleys, plains, and rivers of regions in and around the Himalayas.
You can watch the clip below or listen to it here.
Details for the full episode...
We're very pleased to share the recording of last week's amazing conversation between Alison Hawthorne Deming, Kathleen Dean Moore, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. As those who were able to catch it live know, these three wise and wonderful women took us on a journey into a variety of fascinating topics, most notably the jubilant music of the natural world around us and the power of that music to bring hope and help quell anguish in challenging times.
This...
This week's episode of Spotlights features Dan Smyer Yü, PhD, the Kuige Professor of Ethnology in the School of Ethnology and Sociology at Yunnan University and a Global Faculty Member at the University of Cologne. He discusses his multifaceted, interdisciplinary work with religion and ecology, including his work with trans-Himalayan studies, Buddhism and ecology, ecological indigeneity, commoning, and the role of affect in responding to climate change. Along the way, he talks about some of his books, like Mindscaping the...
Last week, Union Theological Seminary's Center for Earth Ethics wove a rich tapestry of creative offerings and thoughtful reflections into an Earth Day event titled “Earth Day 2022: Life Force.”
This inspiring event included talks by people such as Bill McKibben, Karenna Gore, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., but also musical performances, dance, recitation, and more. The entire three-hour event was recorded, and we're pleased to share that recording with you, here.
From the event site:
...
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Simone Kotva, PhD, a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In this clip, she discusses the relationship between magic and ecology, particularly in light of the ways that the practice of magic is oriented toward skillful communication with the more-than-human world.
You can watch the clip below or listen to it here.
Details for the full episode can be found here.
An...
In honor of Earth Day tomorrow, we wanted to share some words (and sounds!) of hope and inspiration.
First, check out Orion's 2020 Earth Day feature. They asked 10 authors–including E.O. Wilson, Krista Tippett, and Amy Tan–what brought them hope on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The resulting answers are philosophical, practical, poetic, and deeply personal.
Next, we wanted to share the video of Mary Evelyn Tucker's inspiring 2021 Earth Day sermon: “The Sacred...
This week's episode of Spotlights features Simone Kotva, PhD, a research fellow in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Kotva is also part of a multidisciplinary research project on the Nordic Anthropocene, ECODISTURB, and she is the author of Effort and Grace: On the Spiritual Exercise of Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2020). She discusses mysticism, magic, contemplation, the more-than-human dimension of spiritual...
A few weeks ago, we alerted everyone to the upcoming third installment in the very popular webinar series to celebrate Orion’s anthology Old Growth.
This event will take place online on Tuesday April 26 at 2pm EST. The speakers in conversation will be Alison Hawthorne Deming and Kathleen Dean Moore, with the Forum’s own Mary Evelyn Tucker moderating. The event is free and open to all.
Pre-registration is required.
...
This week, Spotlights features a clip from our episode with Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. In this clip, Sam discusses a newly developed resource: a series of MOOCs (massive, open, online courses) oriented around the study of religion and ecology across the world's diverse traditions.
Details about the MOOCs can be found here.
Details for the full episode are available here.
You can...