Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
Wednesday, October 24-Friday, October 26

Conference Description

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. … And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. … Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

(Genesis 1:1; 1:31; 2:15)

From its opening pages, the Bible enjoins stewardship of God’s creation as fundamental to humankind’s role as the pinnacle of God’s creative activity. From tilling gardens to building cities, humans bear a unique responsibility as inheritors of creation to nurture, conserve, and develop God’s gift for the common good of all creatures. Far from being a modern development, Christian environmental care is rooted in theology of creation. In the same way, the command to love one’s neighbor requires attention to our world, its resources, and the ways in which we live together in it. Care for creation is a response to the conviction that the earth is the Lord’s, and all creation is being reconciled to its Creator.

Taking as its theme “Stewardship of Creation,” the 2018 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture will consider the opportunities and challenges for people of faith as they observe the divine mandate to care for creation. What resources does the Christian tradition offer regarding management of the environment and the wise use of natural resources? How do religious accounts of God, creation, justice, and human flourishing shape our embrace and use of technology that alters for good and ill our world and the lives of every creature in it? How might Christians work with others to reimagine the human relationship to the earth? Finally, what might faithful stewardship of creation look like in the coming decades?

Join us in exploring these questions and more during the 2018 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, “Stewardship of Creation,” on October 24–26.

Confirmed Speakers Include:

• Jeffrey Ball, Stanford University
• Philip Bess, University of Notre Dame
• Susan Bratton, Baylor University
• Ellen Davis, Duke Divinity School
• Calvin B. DeWitt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Makoto Fujimura, Fuller Theological Seminary
• Philip Jenkins, Baylor University
• Christopher Miller, Judson University
• S. Kay Toombs, Baylor University
• Theodore R. Vitali, C.P., Saint Louis University
• Robert White, University of Cambridge
• Ralph Wood, Baylor University