"No Salvation apart from the Earth" was the theme of the 5th Annual Knutson Lecture that I delivered at Pacific Lutheran University in 2010. The purpose of my project is to explore this theme in more depth and to develop this lecture into a book.

The excessive focus on individual salvation in the Christian tradition has led to a loss of concern for the well-being of the earth, and the ecological consequences have been devastating. The Christian hope of the resurrection challenges any notion of salvation apart from the earth. God's vision of "shalom" entails the well-being of the whole person and well-being in our relationships with God, other human beings, and creation. In Colossians 1:15-20 Jesus Christ is identified as the one through whom all things are reconciled and through whom "shalom" (peace) will be fulfilled. Salvation can be viewed as a healing process, initiated by God, of moving wounded human beings and the wounded earth toward "shalom". To motivate people to engage in the major ecological reform needed to move the earth toward "shalom" a radical conversation is needed: a turning from an excessive focus on the self and one's own kind and a turning in love toward God, other human beings, and the earth. There is no such thing as love of God apart from love of other human beings and love of the earth. Love of God and love of neighbor are the two classic core values in our faith tradition. Love of creation needs to be lifted up as a third.

At St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon, where I serve as Lead Pastor, earth care has emerged as a core value and profoundly shaped our recently completed major building/landscaping program. This Pastoral Study Project will ground and inspire further earth care ministry at St. Andrew, prepare me to teach an Ecological Ethics seminar at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary each January, and shape my ongoing work with the Interfaith Network for Earth Concerns of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.