The Creature We Are
Nancy Victorin-Vangaruud led class this past week, focusing on themes from the first chapter in Larry Rasmussen’s Earth-Honoring Faith, “The Creature We Are.” We engaged the following questions together:
- Rasmussen claims that humanity’s evolutionary embeddedness offers a “revolutionary shift” in Christian meaning and ethics. What is your understanding of evolution and how does Rasmussen’s presentation clarify or expand or raise further questions for your understanding? In what ways do you see Christian faith, meaning, and practice impacted by an evolutionary model of humanity? How might/would this worldview impact our theologies of Jesus, God, church, ministry or spirituality? What is most challenging in adopting an evolutionary perspective on human belonging?
- How might a more integrated understanding of our humanity, as we recognize our radical dependence on diverse species, as well as forces/elements of the cosmos (water, gravity, solar energy…), bring insight, creativity and perhaps complexity to Christian faith and practice?
- What symbols of Christian faith are important to you? Are there symbols that no longer speak to or resonate with your faith or spirituality? What new symbols might be illuminating and transformative for Christian faith and practice? Any symbols or images from Rasmussen’s chapter?
- Rasmussen claims that humans are “born to morality” with an innate, universal sensibility, but we also mature, learn, experience, and develop morally too. What do you think is important regarding moral relations with other living beings and planetary belonging? In this Anthropocene epoch, what moral commitments – old and/or new – do you see as timely, just and equitable? How might a shift to understanding “ecojustice” become part of Christian faith and practice?
Spiritual Practices to Engage in:
- Reflect on “the creature you are,” based on Rasmussen’s explorations of human belonging, as he expands our relations to include our ecological and evolutionary embeddedness.
- Craft your own poem as inspired by “word-weaver” George Ella Lyons, and her poem “Where I’m From…“.
Materials Shared in Discussion: