I’ve been a biblical scholar for over 35 years and have spent a lot of time reading and writing academic volumes, analyzing arguments, and teaching diverse audiences. However, some of my formative experiences were as a child on my grandparents’ North Carolina farm, to which I still feel an almost elemental connection. Perhaps that farm (and my vegetable gardening) first sparked my interest in the environment. My interest turned to advocacy through research, which set me on the path to grasping the urgency of the climate crisis and my conviction that everything must reflect this reality. I’ve poured over the scientific reports (such as by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and read lots of nonfiction.
I wrote...
Prophets beyond Activism: Rethinking the Prophetic Roots of Social Justice
I’m fascinated by how people think about prophets—in the Bible and the current world. My book explores why some folks understand prophets as social critics and use the term “prophetic” to describe advocacy for social justice. In addition to providing historical background on the origins of this particular understanding, the book argues that reading the prophetic books in their historical and literary contexts (as well as alongside diverse readers) complicates any definitive statement about the role of prophets in the past (or present). The second part of the book explores new ways to read these books for the sake of justice, with chapters focusing on economics, inclusivity, communal trauma, and the climate crisis.
I am in awe of Tim Beal’s ability to write about heavy subjects engagingly and invitingly. His question is deadly serious: now that humanity faces extinction due to the climate crisis, how should we live? He finds answers (or at least guideposts) in an honest (and, for some, untraditional) reading of the Bible, in which he finds resources for what faces us.
This book helped me face climate realities without dissolving into despair. I felt he was helping me reach the “acceptance” stage of grief about Earth.
With faith, hope, and compassion, acclaimed religion scholar Timothy Beal shows us how to navigate the inevitabilities of the climate crisis and the very real—and very near—possibility of human extinction
What if it’s too late to save ourselves from climate crisis? When Time is Short is a meditation for what may be a finite human future that asks how we got here to help us imagine a different relationship to the natural world.
Modern capitalism, as it emerged, drew heavily upon the Christian belief in human exceptionalism and dominion over the planet, and these ideas still undergird our largely secular…
I grow weary of hearing religion and science pitted against one another in popular discussion, especially when it comes to discussing the origins of the universe. That’s why I appreciated Brown’s interweaving of the two in his discussion of the Bible.
In his exploration of the creation stories of the Book of Genesis, he finds commonalities between religion and science and also tensions that ultimately enrich them both. I finished the book with a greater sense of the world's wonder and beauty.
In the ongoing clash between scientists and fundamentalists, many people of faith feel that they are forced to choose between evolution and the Bible's story of creation. But as William Brown asks in this stimulating volume, which biblical creation story are we talking about? Indeed, Brown identifies seven different biblical perspectives on creation, and shows how a close reading of the biblical texts brings them to light. As he does so, Brown highlights both the connections and the conflicts between the ancient creation traditions and the natural sciences, arguing for a new way of reading the Bible in the light…
Davis beautifully shows how understanding the agrarian background of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament helps us recognize the radicality (and modern relevancy) of its vision for Earth. I was especially taken by her chapter on the Book of Leviticus, which usually gets “reduced” to a debate about same-gender-loving relationships.
In Davis’s hands, Leviticus’s guidelines about land and human bodies become amazingly applicable to modern ethics of eating and land use in an era of climate crisis. It really helped me appreciate that the habits we develop (even if they are experienced as rules) can actually change our minds and hearts.
This book examines the theology and ethics of land use, especially the practices of modern industrialized agriculture, in light of critical biblical exegesis. Nine interrelated essays explore the biblical writers' pervasive concern for the care of arable land against the background of the geography, social structures, and religious thought of ancient Israel. This approach consistently brings out neglected aspects of texts, both poetry and prose, that are central to Jewish and Christian traditions. Rather than seeking solutions from the past, Davis creates a conversation between ancient texts and contemporary agrarian writers; thus she provides a fresh perspective from which to…
I found this academic anthology helpful for grounding me in some of the more conceptual issues regarding how we think about Earth. How does it affect us, for example, to think about Earth as Mother or as a resource provided primarily for humans?
I appreciated the diversity of more philosophical explorations alongside some history of how different religious groups understand the environment. The chapter on American Evangelicalism was especially interesting. This wasn’t a short or easy read, but it was important for helping me focus on how we think about our planet and why that matters.
This book charts a new direction in humanities scholarship through serious engagement with the geopolitical concept of the Anthropocene. Drawing on religious stwhatudies, theology, social science, history and philosophy, and can be broadly termed the environmental humanities, this collection represents a groundbreaking critical analysis of diverse narratives on the Anthropocene. The contributors to this volume recognize that the Anthropocene began as a geological concept, the age of the humans, but that its implications are much wider than this. Will the Anthropocene have good or bad ethical outcomes? Does the Anthropocene idea challenge the possibility of a sacred Nature, which shores…
This book isn’t really about the Bible, but its themes resonated so intensely with the Bible that I just had to recommend it. Ostrander’s stories about climate refugees in the present were valuable in helping me empathize with biblical characters such as Ruth, Abraham, and Joseph, who were also climate refugees seeking both physical and metaphorical homes.
Members of my book club (held at an organic farm) found her stories about various parts of the U.S. compelling, and we had a great conversation about our attachments to spaces now pressured by climate change.
One of Kirkus Reviews' 100 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 A gold Nautilus Book Award winner, Ecology & Environment
From rural Alaska to coastal Florida, a vivid account of Americans working to protect the places they call home in an era of climate crisis
How do we find a sense of home and rootedness in a time of unprecedented upheaval? What happens when the seasons and rhythms in which we have built our lives go off-kilter?
Once a distant forecast, climate change is now reaching into the familiar, threatening our basic safety and forcing us to reexamine who we are…
I've been passionate about music for almost my entire life. Jazz music in particular speaks to me but not just jazz. I love music, full stop. I really discovered jazz when I attended a jazz club workshop in London and there, I had to join in or leave. I chose to join in and since then I have never looked back. I was introduced to more jazz musicians and now write about music for three major columns as well as Readers’ Digest. My Women In Jazz book won several awards. I have been International Editor for the Jazz Journalist Association and had my work commissioned by the Library of Congress.
With input from over 100 musicians, the book discusses what exactly jazz is, and how you know you are listening to it. Do we truly know when and how jazz first originated? Who was the first jazz musician? How does jazz link to other genres? What about women in jazz? And writers and journalists? Do reviews make any difference?
This book is a deep dive into jazz's history, impact, and future. It discusses jazz's social, cultural, and political influence and reveals areas where jazz has had an impact we may not even realize.Its influences on hip hop, the connection to…
This book is very different from other, more general jazz books. It is packed with information, advice, well researched and includes experiences from jazz musicians who gleefully add their rich voices to Sammy's in-depth research. All genres, from hard bop to be-bop, vocal jazz, must instrumental, free jazz, and everything between is covered in one way or another and given Sammy's forensic eye. There is social commentary and discussions of careers in jazz music. The musical background of those in the book is rich and diverse. Critics comment: "This new book by Sammy Stein is a highly individual take on…
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