Our keynote speaker for the EcoFaith Summit 2024 is Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Rasmussen extends an invitation to participate in the EcoFaith Summit on April 6th at First Lutheran Church in Duluth or online, writing:

The writing on the wall at our Santa Fe Farmers Market is a line from Wendell Berry: "To cherish what remains of Earth and foster its renewal is our only hope."

That was written a decade ago. Just recently Terry Tempest Williams said much the same: "Before we can save the world we are losing, we must first learn how to savor what remains."

I'm eager to join you for the time together in Duluth because what's on my mind and heart seems also to be on yours--how to both save and savor, cherish and renew. Neither should be isolated from the other.

-Larry Rasmussen

Larry L. Rasmussen is Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City.  His most recent book, The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty’s a Sure Thing (Broadleaf Books, 2022), is the winner of the 2023 Nautilus Gold Prize for best 2022 book in Ecology and Environment. His book, Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key (Oxford University Press, 2013), received the Nautilus Gold Prize for Ecology/Environment and also the Nautilus Grand Prize for best 2014 book overall (27 categories). An earlier volume, Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996), won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. He served as a member of the Science, Ethics, and Religion Advisory Committee of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) and was a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Union Theological Seminary, New York.  From 1990-2000 he served as co-moderator of the World Council of Churches unit, Justice, Peace, Creation. In the Spring Semester 2018 he was guest professor at Union Theological Seminary and Yale University Divinity School. In the summer session of 2019 he taught in Cambridge University, England. In 2021 he was granted the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society of Christian Ethics.

He and Nyla live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Website: larrywrites.info

The EcoFaith Summit 2024 is Presented by:

• The Northeastern Minnesota Synod EcoFaith Network
• The Northwest Synod of Wisconsin
• The Saint Paul Area Synod

Download the Summit Schedule, Poster, and Flyer

Donate to the EcoFaith Summit

We welcome and encourage your and your congregation's donations. We are recognizing the following levels: Friends (up to $99), Supporters ($100-249), Sustainers ($250-499), Builders ($500 and up). All contributors will be listed in the Summit Booklet and recognized at the Summit. 

Donations can be made on Eventbrite or by mailing a check to "The EcoFaith Summit" at 1111 London Road, Duluth, MN 55802.