Let the Little Children Come to Me: Our Ecological Future & Biblical Past

IN-PERSON AND LIVE STREAMED

Climate change and other ecological crises are not future threats — they are current realities. A growing number of people, particularly children, now experience “eco-anxiety.”

How we respond to the challenges afflicting the Earth is a matter of intergenerational justice for today’s children. But what can children teach us about how we respond to these challenges? Dr. Greg Kennedy will explore how children can help us live with the Earth more wisely.

In the second part of the talk, Dr. John Martens will explore what can we learn from Jesus’ teaching on children with respect to ecological concerns of children today. Jesus’ teaching on children taught us not only to learn from them, but proclaimed them as model disciples. Are we actually listening to children today?

Tuesday, November 22, 2022
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Cost: Free
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Dr. Greg Kennedy

Greg Kennedy practices the joyful disciplines of poetry, spiritual direction, retreat leadership and farming on the graceful land of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario.

A Ph.D. in philosophy and a Masters in theology allow him to question lovingly both Heaven and Earth. Inspired by the Spirit that moves through all faiths, he finds his belief instructed by a diversity of lived wisdoms.

Greg is the author of several books, including An Ontology of Trash (SUNY Press 2006); Reupholstered Psalms volumes I-III (Novalis 2020-2022); and Amazing Friendships between Animals and Saints (Novalis 2021).

Dr. John Martens

John Martens holds a PhD in religious studies from McMaster University. He is a biblical scholar, professor of theology, and director of the Centre for Christian Engagement at St. Mark’s College, the affiliated Catholic College at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, BC.

He has also written extensively on children in early Christianity, including “Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity (CUA Press 2009) with Cornelia Horn and Children and Methods: Listening To and Learning From Children in the Biblical World (Brill 2020) with Kristine Henriksen Garroway.

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About the Centre for Christian Engagement

Emphasizing the importance of listening, reflecting, learning, discussing and praying, St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue by creating opportunities to address the challenges associated with the disengagement of Christians from the Church and the life of faith.

Questions?
Contact Dr. John Martens, Director of the Centre for Christian Engagement
[email protected]

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