Evangelical Environmentalism: Oxymoron or Opportunity?
Guest Speakers
Dr. Brad Harper
Dr. Harper grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and remains a devoted '49er fan. He committed his life to Christ at age 5. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Biola University and his M.Div. from Talbot School of Theology, he completed a Ph.D. in Historical theology at St. Louis University.
Dr. Harper has served at Multnomah Bible College as a Theology Professor since 1999. Before coming to Multnomah, he served for 13 years as associate pastor and church planting pastor at two Evangelical Free churches in St. Louis, MO. He has published articles on the church's role in social ethics and Roman Catholic/Evangelical dialogue.
Dr. Harper's concern for the environment is a natural outgrowth of his theology of the Kingdom of God. He became interested in the environment during his graduate work at Talbot School of Theology and believes the Bible relevantly speaks to this issue. Dr. Harper and his wife, Robin, have been married since 1984 and have three children. He enjoys golf, hiking, bird watching, and reading American History.
Ms. Sara Koetje
Ms. Koetje is in her second year at Multnomah Biblical Seminary where she is completing her MAPS in Intercultural Studies. Her undergraduate work was completed at Calvin College where she earned a B.S. in Biology.
Ms. Koetje grew up in Oregon and in a culture that is for the most part environmentally conscious. She grew up recycling, loving trees, and gardening. However, it was during her undergraduate work that she really developed her environmental conscience and became more active in the environmental movement. Some of the formative experiences that developed her environmental awareness, especially on a global scale, included a study trip to Belize and Costa Rica where she studied ecosystems, conservation, and development, and her recent year-long stay in China. While living in China, Ms. Koetje began to see how a rapidly developing country could easily turn into an ecological wasteland. This experience heightened her awareness of the extent of ecological devastation and its effects.
As a citizen of the United States, Ms. Koetje realizes that she has a vital role to play in the environmental health of the world since it is the powerful that generally determines the priority of issues. She believes "that if as a citizen of the richest country of the world I do not speak up for the importance of environmental stewardship then I am neglecting my call to love God and love my neighbor."
Dr. Paul Louis Metzger
Dr. Paul Metzger received his B.A. from Northwestern College, his M.Div. and M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and his Ph.D. from King's College London. Dr. Metzger joined the faculty of Multnomah Biblical Seminary in 1999 and is currently serving as Assistant Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture. Besides teaching systematic theology, he also lectures in the area of intercultural studies. Integrating theology and spirituality with cultural sensitivity stands at the center of Dr. Metzger's ministry vision.
He and his wife, Mariko, a native of Japan, have been active in intercultural ministry in churches in the U.S., Japan, and England. While living in Japan, Dr. Metzger studied Buddhism and taught English as well as philosophy. In 2000, he founded the Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins, an official program of Multnomah Biblical Seminary. New Wine is dedicated to bringing Christ to contemporary culture, and this reflects Dr. Metzger's concern for theology's engagement of cultural themes, including questions pertaining to the environment. Besides directing New Wine, he is actively involved in community outreaches and serves on staff at First Covenant Church in Portland as Theologian in Residence.
Dr. Metzger has recently published his first book entitled, The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 2003). He has also been awarded a 2004 resident membership at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, where he will be on sabbatical to do research on a project, "Principalities and Powers: On Structural Evil and Systemic Change."
Dr. Maarten Schreuder
Dr. Schreuder is a Senior Atmospheric Scientist and Ecologist with Air Sciences Inc. of Portland, OR. He has been with this company since 2001. As a Senior Atmospheric Scientist and Ecologist, he works on a variety of air quality issues, including quantifying emissions of air pollutants from industrial sources, agriculture and wildfires, atmospheric dispersion modeling, and modeling the effects of fire management on emissions from terrestrial ecosystems.
Dr. Schreuder was born and raised in The Netherlands where he received his Masters degree in Air Quality from the Wageningen Agricultural University. Upon completion of his Masters he lived in Prague, Czech Republic, for two years. While there he was employed at the Czech equivalent of the EPA. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Montana, Missoula, where he focused on the effects of air pollution on forest ecosystems. Dr. Schreuder has been involved in various environmental actions since university. He recently started to explore the implications our lifestyle choices have on the urban and natural environment.
Dr. Schreuder is married and has two daughters. His other personal interests include philosophy and the creation vs. evolution debate.
Mr. Max Miller, Jr.
Mr. Miller is a law partner at Tonkon Torp, LLP Attorneys. He received his law degree in 1983 from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. At Tonkon Torp, Mr. Miller is in charge of the firm's environmental and natural resources practice area, focusing on environmental, natural resources, energy and land use law. In particular, he helps businesses and individuals plan for, comply with, and resolve disputes regarding federal, state and local regulations related to these areas of the law. His practice consists of both business advice and litigation.
Mr. Miller has assisted in the purchase, sale, and remediation of numerous environmentally impacted industrial properties. He has litigated environmental agency claims, land use matters, private cost recovery lawsuits, citizen suits involving air and water pollution and hazardous wastes, and has negotiated remedial actions and voluntary clean ups with agencies in several states.
Some of Mr. Miller's recent and ongoing environmental and natural resources matters include: The Portland Harbor Superfund site, a citizen suit defending alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act cleanup of a petrochemical facility, and federal and state permitting related to timberlands.
Mr. Miller's current favorite pastime is doing almost anything outdoors with his wife and daughter.
Mr. Peter Illyn
Mr. Illyn is director of Restoring Eden, a ministry dedicated to helping Christians rediscover the biblical call to love, serve, and protect God's creation. The focus is a balance of nature appreciation as a discipline of Christian spirituality and biblically mandated responsibility of environmental stewardship. The goal of Restoring Eden is to make environmental stewardship a core value of the Christian community. The message is simple – "God is a good God. God made a good earth. God calls us to be good stewards."
An evangelical minister (Foursquare) for ten years, Mr. Illyn became an environmental advocate during a life-changing 1,000-mile llama trek through the Cascade Mountains. His work now as a Christian environmental activist is to "speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves." He is an advocate for native habitats, wild species and subsistence, and indigenous cultures.
Mr. Illyn's work has been featured in Christianity Today, Charisma, CNN, Osgood Files, Outside Magazine, and the Lehrer News Hour amongst others. In addition to his ministry training, Mr. Illyn earned an MBA from Portland State University with an emphasis on social marketing.
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