Conference Schedule
Thursday, 21 February 2002
Arrival and registration in afternoon
Participants to make dinner plans on their own.
Unless otherwise indicated, all sessions will be held in the Auditorium,
McKenna Hall.
7:15 Welcome and announcements
Invocation: Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus
of the University of Notre Dame
7:30 Introductory comments
David Lodge, Conference Coordinator and Professor, Department of Biological
Sciences, University of Notre Dame and Christopher Hamlin, Conference
Co-Coordinator and Professor, Department of History, University of Notre
Dame
8:00-9:30 Informal reception
Friday, 22 February 2002
MORNING
7:30 Continental breakfast served at conference hotels
• PLENARY SESSION I: CHANGING SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE
Moderator: Hope Hollocher, Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor, Department
of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
8:30 From the "Balance of Nature" to the "Flux of Nature"
Stuart Pimm, Professor of Conservation Biology, Center for Environmental
Research and Conservation, Columbia University
Official responses
9:00 James Elser, Professor, Department
of Biology, Arizona State University
9:15 Carl Mitcham, Professor, Liberal
Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines
9:30 Open discussion
10:00 Break
10:30 Rates of Change of Natural Ecosystems: The Impact of Humans
Gary Belovsky, Gillen Director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental
Research Center and Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University
of Notre Dame
Official responses
11:00 Peter S. White, Professor, Department
of Biology and Director, North Carolina Botanical Garden
11:15 Patricia Fleming, Senior Associate
Dean and Associate Professor of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences,
Creighton University
11:30 Open discussion
12:00 Catered lunch in Center Dining Area, Lower Level
AFTERNOON
• PLENARY SESSION II: CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE IN HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Moderator: James Turner, Professor, Department of History and Director,
Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame
1:00 Changing Metaphors and Concepts of Nature
Elspeth Whitney, Associate Professor, Department of History, University
of Nevada, Las Vegas
Official responses
1:30 Irene Diamond, Associate Professor,
Department of Political Science, University of Oregon
1:45 Calvin DeWitt, Professor, Environmental
Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2:00 Open discussion
2:30 Break and Book Display/Sales
3:00 Ecology and American Social Thought
Eugene Cittadino, Adjunct Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized
Study, New York University
Official responses
3:30 Mark Stoll, Assistant Professor,
Department of History, Texas Tech University
3:45 Robert P. McIntosh, Professor Emeritus,
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
4:00 Open discussion
4:30 Break
5:00-6:15
• Contributed Paper Roundtable I
(Concurrent Sessions A, B, and C):
A. Science, Technology, and Environmental Management Room 210-214
Moderator: Don Howard, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Director,
Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre
Dame
Susan Power Bratton, Chair of Environmental Studies, Baylor University
5:00
Ecological Holism and Theological Dualism as Roots of Environmental
Racism: Medieval Lessons for Modern Religious Scholars
Cynthia S. W. Crysdale, Associate Professor, Department of Religion
and Religious Education, The Catholic University of America 5:10
An Ethic of Risk in an Emergent World
Patrick K. Dooley, Board of Trustees Professor of Philosophy, St. Bonaventure
University 5:20
Christian Theocentric Ecology, Human Bias and Judgments of Waste
Heidi Ann Marcum, Senior Lecturer, Baylor University, and Susan
Power Bratton, Chair of Environmental Studies, Baylor University
5:30
Enriching Captive Wildlife: Historic Christian Models and Contemporary
Ethical Issues
James P. Sterba, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
and Fellow, National Humanities Center 5:40
How Philosophy Can Help Ecology and Theology in Fashioning a Defensible
Environmental Ethic
Discussion and Questions 5:50
B. Changing Concepts of Nature Room 112-114
Moderator: Julia Adeney Thomas, Associate Professor, Department of
History, University of Notre Dame
R. Bryan Bademan, Department of History, University of Notre Dame
5:00
"Let Us Rise Through Nature up to Nature's God": Nature and
Design in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Protestant Thought
Rev. Joseph A. Bracken, S.J., Professor of Theology, Xavier University
5:10
Toward a Value-Oriented Metaphysics of Nature
Ken Parejko, Professor, Biology Department, University of Wisconsin-Stout,
Menomonie, WI 5:20
Pliny the Elder's Environmental Ethic
Dane Scott, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion,
Western Carolina University 5:30
The Ecological Community and the Narrative of Creation
Derek D. Turner, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Connecticut
College 5:40
Pluralism About Species Concepts and the Value of Species
Discussion and Questions 5:50
C. Stewardship Room 202
Moderator: Mary Doak, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy,
University of Notre Dame
Calvin DeWitt, Professor, Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
5:00
Refreshed Stewardship for a Dynamic Biosphere
Willis Jenkins, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
5:10
Biodiversity and Salvation: Possibilities for an Eco-Thomism
Bruce R. Reichenbach, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Augsburg
College 5:20
Boulders and Native Prairie: A Stewardship Ethic of Interests
Jame Schaefer, Assistant Professor of Religion and Science, Department
of Theology and Director, Interdisciplinary Program in
Environmental Ethics, Marquette University 5:30
Modeling the Human in an Age of Ecological Degradation
Randall Van Dragt, Professor, Department of Biology, Calvin College
and David Warners, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Calvin
College 5:40
The Confluence of Ecology and Ethics in Conservation on a Christian
College Campus
Discussion and Questions 5:50
6:45 Catered dinner-Center Dining Area, Lower Level
8:00-9:00 Poster session and dessert reception
-Room 100-104 (Posters to remain up through Saturday)
Dorothy Boorse, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Gordon
College
Overpopulation: Ecological and Biblical Principles Concerning Limitation
Susan Power Bratton, Chair of Environmental Studies, Baylor University
The Precautionary Principle and the Book of Proverbs: Toward an Ethic
of Ecological Prudence in Ocean Management
John Davenport, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Fordham
University
Asymmetric Ecocentric Ethics: The Judeo-Christian Environmental Philosophy
Thomas Dunlap, Professor, Department of History, Texas A&M
University
Environmentalism as a Religion
Job Ebenezer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering,
Messiah College
George Washington Carver's Vision of Sustainability and Some Examples
of Sustainable Technologies
David Faldet, Associate Professor, Department of English, Luther College
Coevolutionary Beginnings: Eden and Turtle Island
Pedro Hernandez, Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences Institute,
State University of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Community and Environment: A Christian Perspective
John Kok, Professor of Philosophy and Dean for the Humanities, Dordt
College
Responsible Ecology: Knowing the Mind of God When it Comes to Environmental
Studies
John Mizzoni, Ph.D., Lecturer in Ethics, Villanova University and Assistant
Professor of Philosophy, Neumann College
The Flux of Nature and Franciscan Biocentrism
Sarah Schmidt, Davidson College
Married to the Land: Wendell Berry's Covenantal Land Ethic
Mark Stone, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Furman University
Ecological Reflections on Natural Places and Worship
G. Peter van Walsum, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental
Studies, Baylor University
Transient Emergence of Waste Elimination Processes: The Development
of Natural and Engineered Closed-Loop Material Flows
Louke van Wensveen, Associate Professor, Department of Theological
Studies, Loyola Marymount University
Virtue and the Flux of Nature
Gregory Zuschlag, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Inspecting the Historical, Biblical, and Ecological Fabric of Environmental
Stewardship: A Case of the Emperor's New Clothes?
9:15 Interfaith Taiz Prayer and Music Service - Chapel, Dillon Hall
Saturday, 23 February 2002
MORNING
7:30 Continental breakfast at conference hotels
• PLENARY SESSION III: CHANGING THEOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL CONCEPTIONS
OF NATURE
Moderator: Kristin Shrader-Frechette, O'Neill Professor of Philosophy
and Concurrent Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
8:30 Theology and Ecology in an Unfinished Universe
John Haught, Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology, Georgetown
University
Official responses
9:00 Gerald McKenny, Associate Professor,
Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame
9:15 Lawrence Slobodkin, Professor, Department
of Biology, State University of New York, Stony Brook
9:30 Open discussion
10:00 Break
10:30 Ecology and Society: The Challenge to and from Christian Ethics
Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union
Theological Seminary
Official responses
11:00 Stephen Bede Scharper, Assistant
Professor, Department and Centre for the Study of Religion, and Associate,
Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto
11:15 Kenneth R. Tenore, Professor and
Director, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center
for Environmental Science
11:30 Open discussion
12:00 Catered lunch-Center Dining Area, Lower Level
AFTERNOON
1:00-2:15
• CONTRIBUTED PAPER ROUNDTABLE II
(Concurrent Sessions A, B, and C):
A. Older Sources of Understanding-Room 112-114
Moderator: Matthew Ashley, Associate Professor, Department of Theology,
University of Notre Dame
Shai Cherry, Mellon Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought, Vanderbilt
University 1:00
Singing a New Song (Ps. 149): Modulations of Creation in Rabbinic Judaism
Heath R. Curtis, Concordia Seminary and Classics Department, Washington
University at St. Louis 1:10
Mythical Re-Flection: C.S. Lewis' Reflection on Genesis 1-3 as Paradigm
for a Contemporary Christian Response to Eco-Societal Challenges
Richard J. Dougherty, Associate Professor of Politics and Director,
Center for Christianity and the Common Good 1:20
Nature and the Created Order: Christianity and the Knowledge of Origins
Laura A. Smit, Assistant Professor, Department of Religion and Theology,
Calvin College 1:30
The Truth of a Tree: Logos-Christology as a Foundation for a Christian
Environmental Ethic
Norman Wirzba, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Georgetown
College 1:40
The Character of Creation: Jewish and Christian Sources for an Environmental
Ethic
Discussion and Questions 1:50
B. Environmental Decision Making-Room 210-214
Moderator: Kenneth Sayre, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University
of Notre Dame
Dean Bavington, Geography and Environmental Studies Department, Wilfrid
Laurier University 1:00
Managerial Ecology, Politics and Ethics: Exploring the Complexities
of Control, Coping and Consent in Culture-Nature Relations
R.J.(Sam) Berry, Professor Emeritus of Genetics, University College
London 1:10
The Nature of Nature and Human Nature
Normand M. Laurendeau, Ralph and Bettye Bailey Professor, School of
Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University 1:20
Controlling Consumption: A Role for Religion?
Pamela E. Mack, Associate Professor, Department of History, Clemson
University 1:30
Policy and Values: The Nixon Administration Almost Bans Clearcutting
Timothy Brook Smith, Aquatic Ecologist, John Muir Institute of the
Environment, University of California, Davis and Daniel Brannan, Professor,
Department of Biology, Abilene Christian University 1:40
Evolutionary Ecology in Aquatic Systems: A Case for the Stewardship
of Evolution
Discussion and Questions 1:50
C. Praxis - Room 202
Moderator: George Howard, Professor, Department of Psychology and Fellow,
Joan B. Krok Institute for International Peace Studies,University of Notre
Dame
Patrick H. Byrne, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boston College
1:00
Ecology, Economy and Redemption as Dynamic: The Contributions of Jane
Jacobs and Bernard Lonergan
John E. Carroll, Professor of Environmental Conservation, Department
of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire 1:10
Catholicism, Ecology and Sustainability
Annie Merrill Ingram, Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies
and Associate Professor of English, Davidson College 1:20
Environmental Justice: Redefining the Nature of Our Lives
Laura Landen, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Providence
College 1:30
From Scientism to Environmentalism: Ecology's Role
Michael Tomko, University of Notre Dame 1:40
Discrete Metaphors: Wendell Berry and the Ethical Demands of Local
Ecology
Discussion and Questions 1:50
2:15 Break and Book Display/Sales
2:45
• CONTRIBUTED PAPER PLENARY SESSION ON PEDAGOGY
Moderator: Phillip R. Sloan, Professor, Program of Liberal Studies,
and Director, Program in Science, Technology and Values, University of
Notre Dame
Amanda Borden, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Samford
University and R. Kenneth Kirby, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department
of English, Samford University 2:45
Biblical Perspectives on Environmental Service Learning
Carol LaChapelle, M.A., Independent Scholar 3:00
The Call of Stories: The Place for Nature Writing in Environmental
Ethics
Stephen Main, Professor, Department of Biology, Wartburg College; David
McCullough, Professor, Department of Biology, Wartburg College; and Lake
Lambert III, Regents Chair in Ethics, Wartburg College 3:15
Guiding Students to Identify and Analyze Ethical Dimensions in Environmental
Issues
Elizabeth F. Randol, Ph.D., Director, Jane Kopas Women's Center and
Faculty, Department of Philosophy, University of Scranton 3:30
Pedagogical Flux: Liberation Theology and Ecofeminist Praxis
Discussion and Questions 3:45
4:00-5:30
• BREAKOUT GROUPS
(Each group will select its own discussion leader and recorder.)
We plan at least eight concurrent Breakout Groups on the implications
of the conference for Òintegrated curriculum and scholarship. This
problem is central to the conference. Most of us are teachers in colleges
and universities. Each of us will see the issues of the conference from
the particular perspective of a discipline or subdiscipline, but how do
(and should) our students integrate their learning as they move from department
to department? Will they be left with discrete, perhaps even conflicting,
bodies of knowledge, or will they be able to find a coherence that will
be important, even formative, in later life? Can, and should, our scholarship
shift to pursue such coherence? Can interdisciplinary be more than multidisciplinary?
To ensure a breadth of backgrounds we will assign each participant to
a group at the conference. Each group will address the same questions.
Breakout Groups I
- What is the state of the field?
- What are the areas of consensus about the intersection of ecology, theology,
and Judeo-Christian ethics?
- What are the areas of tension among the various perspectives represented?
- What are the major open questions at the nexus of these disciplines?
- What kinds of research should address them?
Participants to make dinner plans on their own
5:45 Roman Catholic Vigil Mass - Chapel, Keough Hall
Sunday, 24 February 2002
MORNING
7:30 Continental breakfast at conference hotels
8:30 Breakout Groups II:
Questions to consider:
- Ideally, how would the group organize a course or curriculum integrating
contemporary scientific and/or technological perspectives with the other
disciplines represented at the conference (theology, history, philosophy)?
- What bodies of knowledge should be covered and skills developed?
- How can questions of "is" and "ought" both be addressed?
- What should happen intellectually to a student who takes such a course?
or works through a curriculum of such courses?
9:30 Break
10:00 Report from each Breakout Group and Discussion
Moderators: David Lodge and Christopher Hamlin
Five minutes of report plus five-minute discussion for each of eight reports
(Computer projection and materials for making overheads will be available.)
11:30 Buffet lunch
and opportunity for informal groups to meet to discuss how the conference
might affect their teaching or research agendas; sharing of reading lists,
syllabi, etc.
1:00 Departure
