What if the World Really Sang? Reimagining the Creation Story

What is God’s creation story? Does talking about the “creative God” as opposed to the “creator God” provide us a more fruitful way to understand God and creation? Does music somehow pull us into the divine? “What if the World Really Sang? Reimagining the Creation Story,” the last webinar in the University of the South's Center for Religion and Environment’s spring series, will explore these and related themes in the context of Director Robin Gottfried’s new book, The Audacious Great Singing School Adventure: A Fable. After his presentation Dr. Becky Wright (Professor of Old Testament), Jerry Cappel  (Province IV Environmental Network Coordinator for the Episcopal Church) and Mary Foster (MTS from Duke Divinity and dancer) will engage Robin in an informal discussion followed by Q&A from the audience.

Robin Gottfried is the director of the Center for Religion and Environment. Long known for his passion for environmental economics and sustainable development, he has conducted research on land use change and forest policy, as well as the economic impacts of development and other economic activity in the U.S., Costa Rica, and elsewhere. Gottfried helped spearhead the creation of Sewanee’s environmental studies program and served as its first chair. Gottfried also helped start the College’s Landscape Analysis (GIS) Lab. He is the author of Economics, Ecology and the Roots of Western Faith: Perspectives from the Garden, Living in an Icon: A Program for Growing Closer to Creation and to God, and numerous articles on land use change, forest policy, and sustainable development as well as articles addressing the interface of social science, ecotheology and spirituality. Robin blogs on religion and environment, loves to hike, and plays classical, Appalachian and Latin American music.