“Ecology, Theology, and Judeo-Christian Environmental Ethics”
A Lilly Fellows National Research Conference
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
February 21–24, 2002

A Call for Papers is being issued now through November 1, 2001.

The University of Notre Dame will hold a conference on “Ecology, Theology, and Judeo-Christian Environmental Ethics” in February 21–24, 2002. Identifying the intersection of ecology, history, philosophy, and theology, this conference will explore how that intersection may affect and shape environmental ethics and environmental policy in the future.

Conference Outline
The conference will be divided into three main sections:

Session 1: Changing Scientific Conceptions of Nature
The conference will begin with an examination of a concept central for many years to the study of ecology-the “balance of nature.” In the past, ecologists often assumed a dichotomy between a pristine, stable nature and disruptive human activity. Many contemporary ecologists, however, conceive of nature as undergoing continual change. Ecologists increasingly include humans and human activities within the model of a changing environment. They find the “flux of nature” a more accurate metaphor than the “balance of nature” to describe the shifting patterns of species interaction and ecosystem function.

Session 2: Changing Conceptions of Nature in Historical Perspective
In the second section of the conference, historians will lead an examination of the ways metaphors of nature have changed and how these changes reflect and affect changes in social thought.

Session 3: Changing Theological and Ethical Conceptions of Nature
In the conference’s third section, participants will utilize a Judeo-Christian framework in order to explore the implications of contemporary ecology for human action. The theological and ethical implications that have followed from the conception of nature as a “stable equilibrium” and/or of humans as “disruptive latecomers,” seem to have been reasonably clear: Humans had a moral-and perhaps religious-obligation to nature to serve as stewards of a balanced and stable creation. Implications of the newer ecological concept of the “flux of nature” are less clear because they involve determinations regarding the types and rates of fluctuations and question which of these fluctuations should be prevented and which should be protected. It asks the questions, “What is the moral status of different fluxes in the natural world? What are the causes of these fluctuations?”

For more information on this event, visit the “Ecology, Theology, and Judeo-Christian Environmental Ethics” web site or contact Mary Hendriksen.