Debra Rienstra, Author at Debra Rienstra

Hevel and Hope in the Midst of the Climate Crisis

“Is this the end of the world?”“It usually is.” That zinger appears near the conclusion of the kooky and wonderful Post-Rapture Radio, Russell Rathbun’s 2008 novel, which inventively satirizes American Evangelicalism for its shallowness and materialism. Toward the end of the novel, an eccentric, quasi-prophetic figure…

Debra RienstraSeptember 14, 2019

college life silly

The College Syllabus: An Annotated Guide

For all you college students out there, it’s time to gird up your binders and get ready for a parade of professors thrusting their course syllabi at you. On the off chance that you will actually read these syllabi—my research shows that only about one-third…

Debra RienstraAugust 31, 2019

Refugia Podcast

Episode 1 Little Pockets: Dave Koetje and Defining Our Terms

We are in a little conference room adjacent to the greenhouse, and so behind us here you can see all of these wonderful tropical plants, huh? It's our own little refugium here.

Debra RienstraAugust 26, 2019

climate change nature spirituality

Little Pockets: Refugia Basics

I've been working this summer on a podcast based on the idea of “refugia.” I wrote about this idea here at The Reformed Journal blog last May. Thanks in part to the encouragement of my colleague Dave Koetje, Professor of Biology at Calvin University, I’ve been exploring…

Debra RienstraAugust 17, 2019

nature spirituality theology

Learning about Gratitude from the Onondaga

I realize we’re planning way ahead here, but if you happen to be in charge of an Easter Vigil service next spring, you should definitely order a big beeswax candle for the occasion. Why? Because in the ancient liturgical prayer for Easter Eve, called the…

Debra RienstraJuly 20, 2019

dunes Michigan

Coastal Ingenuity: Up North Tales

In honor of the official beginning of summer, I shall relate some maritime history of the Great Lakes. I knew almost nothing about maritime history until last summer, when my husband and I visited the Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum near Glen…

Debra RienstraJune 22, 2019

liturgical year silly

Let’s Make Ordinary Time Extraordinary Again

Good news, bad news. The good news is that tomorrow is Pentecost, so we get to sing Spirit-centric songs and think about exciting things like rushing wind, tongues of flame, and sudden outbreaks of multilingualism. The bad news is that after tomorrow, the liturgical year…

Debra RienstraJune 8, 2019

review

Let Me Explain: Wolterstorff’s Life of the Mind, Life in Community

In This World of Wonders: Memoir of a Life in LearningNicholas WolterstorffEerdmans, 2019318 pages When vistas open up in life, extraordinary people awaken to them. Widening vistas and intellectual awakenings characterize philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff’s new memoir, in which he recounts a long and extraordinary life…

Debra RienstraMay 25, 2019

climate change nature spirituality

Refugia

When Mount Saint Helens erupted in May of 1980, it lost 1,300 feet of elevation and gained a new mile-wide crater. The debris avalanche and ashfall from the volcanic blast devastated the mountain and its surroundings, crushing, burning, killing, and coating everything in ash. Everyone…

Debra RienstraMay 11, 2019

Calvin events politics

Journalists Ponder a Fluid Moment for Faith and Politics in America

While I am normally happy to flop on the sofa and watch mindless TV on Friday nights, last night I pulled myself together and attended the 21st annual Paul B. Henry Lecture, sponsored by the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics. The lecture was a…

Debra RienstraApril 27, 2019

Debra Rienstra

Hevel and Hope in the Midst of the Climate Crisis

The College Syllabus: An Annotated Guide

Episode 1 Little Pockets: Dave Koetje and Defining Our Terms

Little Pockets: Refugia Basics

Learning about Gratitude from the Onondaga

Coastal Ingenuity: Up North Tales

Let’s Make Ordinary Time Extraordinary Again

Let Me Explain: Wolterstorff’s Life of the Mind, Life in Community

Refugia

Journalists Ponder a Fluid Moment for Faith and Politics in America

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