Jesus and the earth

The Gospel and the future of the environment

This conference was organised jointly by John Ray Initiative and the University of Gloucestershire's School of Humanities, and attended by 190 people. We have received many appreciative and enthusiastic messages about the conference. JRI newsletter no.9 has an account of the day by David Thistlethwaite.

Audio Tapes

Tape 1) James Jones
Tape 2) Houghton/Carruthers
Tape 3) Northcott
Tape 4) Spelman/Questions

Price Ł3 per tape or Ł10 for a full set of four tapes, includes postage and packing. To order please send your address and a cheque to: ARM Services, 79 Haycroft Drive, St Leonard's Park, Gloucester, GL4 6XX

Full Texts Online

Jesus and the earth: the Gospel and the future of the environment. Rt Revd James Jones.
Picking grains on the sabbath: the Gospel and farming. Dr Peter Carruthers.
The ecological spirit. Revd Dr Michael Northcott.
Who is my neighbour? Caroline Spelman MP.

Printer-friendly PDF

Jesus and the earth (159 Kb, 10 pages).
Picking grains on the sabbath (348 Kb, 8 pages).
The ecological spirit (148 Kb, 10 pages).
Who is my neighbour? (86 Kb, 4 pages).

Programme

10.00	Welcome and Introduction. Dame Janet Trotter, Principal, University of Gloucestershire.
10.15	Jesus and the earth. The Rt Rev'd James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool.
11.30	Signs in the sky and signs of the times. The Gospel and global climate change. Sir John Houghton.
12.00	Picking grains on the Sabbath: the Gospel and farming. Dr Peter Carruthers.
14.00	The ecological spirit. Rev'd Dr Michael Northcott.
14.40	Who is my neighbour? Caroline Spelman MP.
15.10	Questions & Discussion.
16.30	Concluding Service in University Chapel. Preacher: The Rt Rev'd James Jones.

About the speakers

The Rt Rev'd James Jones has been Bishop of Liverpool since 1998. He was previously Bishop of Hull. He is very involved in urban regeneration. His study leave in 2002 in Oxford and India focused on 'Jesus and the Gospels - a re-reading of the Gospels with an environmental awareness'.

Sir John Houghton CBE, FRS has been chairman of the John Ray Initiative since it was founded in 1997. He was Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Oxford, 1976-1983, Director General and Chief Executive of the UK Meteorological Office, 1983-1991, Chairman of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1992-1998, Chairman or Co-Chairman of the Scientific Assessment for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1988-2002, and member of the UK Government Panel on Sustainable Development, 1994-2000. His many publications include 'Global Warming: the Complete Briefing' (2nd ed CUP 1997) and 'The search for God, can science help?' (Lion Publishing 1994).

Dr Peter Carruthers is Executive Director of the John Ray Initiative. An agricultural scientist, he was formerly a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Agricultural Strategy, University of Reading. He is Chairman of Agricultural Christian Fellowship and a Director of Farm Crisis Network.

Rev'd Dr Michael Northcott is Reader in Christian Ethics at the University of Edinburgh and a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He is also Academic Chair of Scotland's alternative ecological University, the Centre for Human Ecology. His 'big book' on ecology, The Environment and Christian Ethics, was reissued by Cambridge University Press in 1999.

Caroline Spelman MP was elected Member of Parliament for Meriden in the West Midlands in 1997, and is presently Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and Shadow Minister for Women for the Conservative Party. She is married to Mark with three children aged 11, 10 and 7. She wrote her PhD thesis on the non-food uses of renewable agricultural resources.