Welcome to Season 4!
But this fall, we’re back–with eight new episodes plus one bonus episode. This season we’re focusing on churches and Christian communities who are learning how to address the climate crisis together, as an essential aspect of their discipleship. We have a terrific variety of guests to share with you, and we’re confident you’ll discover some wisdom to share with your own faith community.
I hope you’ll subscribe now to the Refugia Podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Episodes will drop weekly starting September 14.
And just a reminder that the last three seasons still make for great listening. They are resources for you to use. You can explore refugia with activists, clergy, artists, biologists, theologians, writers, journalists, and more, just by listening to the first three seasons.
Thanks for listening! And welcome to Season 4.
Welcome back!
Refugia is a biological term for habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. In the first three seasons of the Refugia Podcast, we explored the concept of refugia both literally and as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia—nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities even in this time of severe disturbance.
It’s been quite a while since we produced new episodes. I’ve been busy teaching at Calvin University and speaking to faith groups all over the country, so I hope you don’t mind that I took a hiatus.
For grammar geeks: “Refugia” is plural. “Refugium” is singular. I try to keep this straight, but both I and my guests mess it up sometimes. Meanwhile, the phrase “people of refugia” seems to reconstrue the word as a singular quality or state of being. I like this term enough, obviously, to put up with the confusing linguistic issues involved!
Refugia Episodes
Episode 21 Infrastructures of Holiness: Fred Bahnson on Arks, Intercessory Forests, and Gregarious Hermits
The forests are living arks of biodivesity, tiny green vessels, sailing over a barren sea of brown. In this time of rising waters and diminishing life, the church forests of Ethiopia are in many ways the perfect metaphor
Episode 20 Imaginative and Messy: Kathryn Mae Post on Religion Journalism and Reconstructing Faith
I long for a church that is as committed to effective praxis as it is to robust theology. I long for a church that rejects fear of being challenged or questioned or fear of imperfection.
Episode 19 Love Thy Downstream Neighbor: Tim Van Deelen on Sorrow, Anger, and Conservation Biology
I think that there’s a danger that always being in a reflective and appreciative and sort of a passive mode, that it sucks up the intellectual energy and the motivations that you might have to go bang on the door and try to effect a change for the better.
Episode 18 Where Beauty is Happening: Katerina Parsons on International Development, Ripple Effects, and Hunger for Deep Roots
Listen now On this episode, we’re joined by Katerina Parsons, a recent Calvin University alumna who works in legislative advocacy with the Mennonite Central Committee.
Episode 17 Dreaming of Eloheh: Randy Woodley on Following the Harmony Way
To be human is to be spiritual, to be limited, to be vulnerable. And I think in that we reflect the vulnerability of our Creator.
Episode 16 Kites and Kingfishers: Ruth Harvey on the Iona Community and Emerging Patterns
We need to meet in each other’s homes, sharing our questions and our queries about biblical stories, sharing hospitality with one another, sharing refuge with one another. And it’s from those place that the church will be renewed.
Episode 15 Momentum into the Next Thing: Bill McKibben on Fighting Overwhelming Odds and Praying Through Mental Static
Climate activist Bill McKibben joins us to talk about human solidarity and hope.
Episode 14 Sacramental Cats and Hungry Deer: Dave Koetje on Refugia Amid COVID
Dave Koetje joins us once again to kick off season two!
Episode 13 Important Dying: Dave Koetje and Summing Up the Refugia Series
We’ve aired 12 episodes over the last few months, so it’s time to figure out what we’ve learned. I guess we could call this a final exam day.
Episode 12 Baselines and Soul Work: Hillary Scholten on Immigration Reform and the Urgency of Creating Good Policy
The thing that I learned from my time working at the Justice Department is that good policy and making good policy takes time. It takes thoughtfulness. It takes deliberation. It’s not crafted in late-night tweets.
Refugia in Review
Refugia are places where we are content to be small for a while. To wait, to be quiet, to practice simple virtues like hospitality and empathy. To build capacity on a small scale to prepare us for regrowth.
Episode 11 Jazz on the Dunes: David Jellema and the Colony at Lost Valley
You’re at the intersection there of sky and light and water and earth. You’re in the four elements; they’re right there at the shore with you. And I think that kind of magic is what has always drawn people here.
Background
Refugia are places of shelter where life endures in times of crisis. From out of these small sanctuaries, life re-emerges, and the world is renewed. We’re exploring what it means for people of faith to be people of refugia. How can we create safe places of flourishing— “micro-countercultures” where we gain strength and spiritual capacity to face the challenges ahead?
Host Debra Rienstra interviews a different guest each week, exploring the evocative idea of refugia from a variety of perspectives, from biology to worship to politics.
This is a podcast, ultimately, about watching for places where God is working at renewal—of the earth, of the church, culture, and society. It’s about seeking how we might participate willingly and courageously in that divine work.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the team of people who made this project possible.
Thanks to all my guests, who were so generous with their time and wisdom. I’m proud to put your work on display whenever I can.
Thanks to Kathleen Dean Moore, whose book Great Tide Rising inspired the idea for the podcast and who continues to inspire me with her prophetic voice, artistic skill, and personal integrity.
Thanks to David Wunder along with the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship for providing support for Season 3 and to the several Centers and Institutes at Calvin University that provided funding to support an experimental pilot project during the summer of 2019.
Thanks to my excellent assistants for Season 3, Ian Gilbert and Kathryn Gardner (audio editing) and Michal Rubingh (text editing).
Thanks to my excellent assistants for Season 2, Josh Parks (text editing and publicity) and Philip Rienstra (audio editing). Could not have done another season without you.
For Season 1, thanks to Calvin students Kayla Cooper and Garrett Strpko for doing so much of the recording and post-production, and to Jordan Van Eerden for batting cleanup. Thanks to Lauren Cole for much transcription editing and for developing the look of the podcast. Professors are not necessarily the most tech-savvy and we tend to be reclusive, but we can learn. Thanks for your patience with us.
Thanks to Michaela Osborne and Stephanie Boer for vital logistical support during Season 1.
Finally, huge thanks to John Hwang, whose passion and commitment fires us up and continues to make it all possible.