Earthkeeping: An Essential Role of the Faithful

Dr. Fred Van Dyke

At the first conference in 1998 the question we asked was, Who are we? Specifically we wondered How does (should) being scientifically informed and ethically committed shape and influence the practice of a Christian environmental professional? The answer was given in terms of what characteristics one might expect to see in such a person. Now we will go beyond this to ask more specifically, What must we now do? Are there specific actions that should characterize us, individually, and as a group (or groups) of Christian environmental practitioners? In what ways can we as professionals help to rebuild the values framework that seems so fractured today?

Fred is Professor of Biology at Wheaton College in Illinois and a faculty member at Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Michigan. He was a wildlife research biologist with the state of Montana and is the author of Redeeming Creation: The Biblical Basis for Environmental Stewardship (InterVarsity, 1996). Fred is currently completing a textbook in Conservation Biology for McGraw-Hill.