From Nov. 7 to 9, the Andrews Autumn Conference on Religion & Science, this year titled the “Creation Care” conference, was held here at Andrews University.
“This conference was established to promote discussion between theologians and scientists in areas where there is overlap between the disciplines,” explained Gary Burdick, dean of research at Andrews. “This year’s conference explores the theme of Creation Care and explores the scientific and theological mandates for us to take care of God’s creation.”
The conference consisted of a series of seminars, plenaries and panel discussions focused on the theme of caring for God’s creation and what that entails for the Seventh-day Adventist community. The scholars who presented and participated in this conference were from institutions all over the U.S. and Canada, such as Loma Linda University, Burman University and AdventHealth University.
The conference started off on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. with a plenary session titled “And Also Many Animals” by Sigve Tonstad, research professor of religion and assistant professor of medicine at Loma Linda University. The presentation focused on the book of Jonah and the status of animals in creation care.
The conference was continued on Friday with two series of presentation sessions from 9 a.m. to noon in the morning and in the afternoon from 1:45-5 p.m. The presentations covered subjects from the representation of creation in Tolkien and Lewis’ fiction narratives to the benefits of a plant-based diet. Friday’s conference session ended with a vespers service by Andrews professor Martin Hanna titled “Making Space for the Creator of Space.”
Saturday was the last day of the conference. The morning consisted of a series of plenary presentations on climate change and environmental stewardship from a Christian perspective. In the afternoon, the plenary speakers participated in a panel discussion that culminated in a final discussion about creation care from an Adventist perspective.
This conference was supported by a “Climate Science in Theological Education” grant from the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (AAAS: DoSER). Additional support was provided by the North American Division Archives, Statistics & Research.
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