Conference 2013

The Earth is the Lord's: Renewing the Covenant of Creation

Monday 15 to Thursday 18 July 2013
at High Leigh Conference Centre

Chair: Margaret Barker DD

Secretaries: Revd Clare Nicholson and Revd John Goldsmith

Chaplain: Fr Dominic White OP

The Church needs a characteristically Christian approach to the current environment crisis. There is a danger that by repeating fashionable secular positions, the Church may be adopting ideas and assumptions that are not compatible with our core beliefs.

This conference will explore what the Bible says about the creation, based on the most fundamental (and most neglected) idea of the eternal covenant which binds all creation and human society into one God-given system.

The speakers will look at examples of breaking the covenant and the consequences for the environment; at some attempts to restore the covenant by new industrial practices and new attitudes; and at how this can be put into practice at a local level and expressed in worship.

Further details  •  Resources  •  Conference programme (as at 5 June)

How to book

Use our online booking facility to pay by card or PayPal. Alternatively, print, complete and return a booking form if you prefer to pay by cheque.

Contributors

confirmed but subject to change (updated 5 June)

Margaret Barker

Conference chair Margaret Barker read theology at the University of Cambridge, England, and went on to pursue her research independently. She has developed an approach to Biblical Studies now known as Temple Theology. Elected President of the Society for Old Testament Study in 1998, she edited the Society's second Monograph Series, published by Ashgate.

Alex Evans

Alex Evans is a senior fellow at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University, where he works on issues including climate change, resource scarcity, international development, and global public goods. His recent publications include Climate, Scarcity and Sustainability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2012) and Beyond the Millennium Development Goals (2012, with CIC's David Steven).

Helen Hutchison

Helen Hutchison is a Church of England Environment Officer in the Diocese of St Albans. Her lifelong interest in the writings of Teilhard de Chardin and Fr Thomas Berry, priest, ecologist and philosopher, inform her work and understanding of the climate crisis as a spiritual crisis brought about by humankind's loss of connection with the earth and its sacred gifts.

Jeffrey Newman

Jeffrey Newman is Rabbi Emeritus at Finchley Reformed Synagogue and Founder Director of Earth Charter UK, an initiative which brings together human rights, justice and equality.

Hylton Murray Philipson

Hylton Philipson is Managing Director of Canopy Capital, a private equity firm focused on the development of new ecosystem services markets. He first explored the Amazon basin at the age of 17 and subsequently established Morgan Grenfell in Brazil at the age of 23. He has given interviews on the future of the Amazon to the Today programme on Radio 4, as well as BBC television.

David Shreeve

David Shreeve is Environmental Consultant to the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England. David is part of the team which organises Shrinking the Footprint, the Church of England's national environment campaign. In 2003 he was awarded a Lambeth Degree in recognition of his influence in the Church's understanding of environmental issues.

Tom Spencer

Tom Spencer is Executive Director, European Centre for Public Affairs, and Vice Chairman of the Institute for Environmental Security in The Hague where he takes a particular interest in Forests and Climate and the Greening of Security Policy. He is a member of the Conservative Party's Quality of Life group on Climate Change.