Debra Rienstra, Author at Debra Rienstra

arts Refugia Podcast

Episode 4 Sacred Vessels: Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk on the Arts, the Holy Spirit, and Sanctuary Spaces

Studio artist and art educator Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk reflects on art and risk-taking as well as creating safe places for risk through sacred spaces pedagogy. She also explains her fondness for vessels and pokey things. Listen Now For more background Here is Jo-Ann's faculty page…

Debra RienstraOctober 4, 2019

college life spirituality

Word of the Lord, Thanks Be to God

It's disturbing to recognize that in the Noah story, God does the same sort of thing that the Babylonian gods do in their flood story.” That’s what she said, this bold and thoughtful student in world lit class. We had been pondering the flood story…

Debra RienstraSeptember 28, 2019

Refugia Podcast

Episode 3 Seedbed to Be a Blessing: Steve Bouma-Prediger on Refugia in Scripture

Listen now Steve Bouma-Prediger is professor of religion at Hope College, ecotheologian, and author of For the Beauty of the Earth--among many other books. Here he reflects on examples of refugia in the Bible as well as on the virtues necessary to fulfill our God-given,…

Debra RienstraSeptember 27, 2019

Refugia Podcast

Episode 2 The Great Laughter: Jamie Skillen on Humility and Hope

Listen Now In this episode, Jamie Skillen, professor of environmental studies at Calvin University, overviews the sometimes tense relationship between Christianity and environmentalism, urging us to aspire toward an “eschatological stewardship.” For more background... To learn more about the Beyond Stewardship book we mention, go…

Debra RienstraSeptember 20, 2019

Calvin events climate change

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

Debra Rienstra

Episode 4 Sacred Vessels: Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk on the Arts, the Holy Spirit, and Sanctuary Spaces

Word of the Lord, Thanks Be to God

Episode 3 Seedbed to Be a Blessing: Steve Bouma-Prediger on Refugia in Scripture

Episode 2 The Great Laughter: Jamie Skillen on Humility and Hope

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

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