2014 Mary Milligan, R.S.H.M. Lecture in Spirituality featuring Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D.
"Creation: Is God's charity broad enough for bears?"
Is creation only a wondrous event that took place "in the beginning?" Is belief in creation only a backdrop to the more serious business of redemption? Or does the Giver of life keep on singing the natural world into being at every moment of its evolution, with compassion for its suffering and commitment to its well-being? At this time of undoubted ecological crisis, this lecture probes the meaning of creation, to invigorate ethical behavior that cares for plants and animals with a passion integral to faith's passion for the living God. Once we see that the evolving community of life on Earth continues to be the dwelling place of the Spirit and its ruination an unspeakable sin, then deep affection shown in action on behalf of eco-justice becomes an indivisible part of spirituality.
Thursday, March 20, 2014 | 7 p.m.
Loyola Marymount University
Roski Dining Room
Reception immediately following in the Marymount Institute for Faith, Culture, and the Arts (UNH 3002)
About Elizabeth Johnson
Currently Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, where she teaches in both undergraduate and graduate programs, Elizabeth Johnson grew up in Brooklyn, New York. At the time of the Second Vatican Council, she was a young sister teaching in elementary school as a New York State certified teacher of reading from grades K-6, a certification she still maintains. After receiving a Ph.D. in theology from Catholic University of America (1981), she taught at that university for ten years before moving to Fordham. Her book She Who Is garnered several honors, most notably the Grawemeyer Award in Religion; her work has been translated into German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Bosnian, Korean, Indonesian and Thai.