Tuesday 14 May 2024

composting theologies: our keynote speakers

 



At tomorrow's (Wed 15th May) 'composting theologies' gathering, we are delighted to be joined online by two fabulous contributors who bring a profound depth and breadth of earthed experience, knowledge, wisdom and playfulness to our conversation.

I first came across Dr Emma Lietz Bilecky when I noticed that SCM Press are this year publishing her book, Decomposing Holy Ground. Everything about the title got my excited and intrigued. She is a fellow at Princeton's Theological Seminary's Farminary Project, who thinks, writes and teaches on the mutual formation processes between soil and human communities, while managing the seminary's small vegetable farm. She is informed by Western landscapes, love of food, and degrees in theological studies and environmental management.

My first encounter with Dr Bayo Akomolafe was reading his beautiful book These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: letters to my daughter on humanity's search for home (2017). It brought together some of the newest scientific understandings of our beautiful, complex, entangled world, with 'new materialist' feminist philosophy, the earthed wisdom of Bayo's Yoruba roots, and his personal reflectios of growing into parenthood - and it made my heart sing. And then, beyond his written words, I heard him speak, in a number of stunning podcast conversations, on science and non-duality, 'unlearning mastery', 'composting Christianity' and more. He has a breathtaking, poetic touch with words that invite us deeper into the mystery of our entanglements with all life in our more-than-human world. He is a celebrated international thinker, writer, teacher, and founder of The Emergence Network, a planet-wide initiative that seeks to convene communities in new ways in response to the critical, civilizational challenges we face as a species.

We are so fortunate to have them both joining us in conversation. I can't wait for the conversation to begin!



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