Kristin Swenson

Epiphany’s Choice and the Environment: In Reverence to Honor, or in Fear to Destroy

Bible, Bible and ecology, Blog, Ecology, Holidays, Jesus, Non-human Natural World, Politics / By kswenson

Hang on, you there, packing up the Christmas lights, dismantling the tree, boxing up the crèche with its cast of characters and that long-tailed star. Christmas is not over. Sure, come December 26th, it may have been all over for the “Little Drummer Boy,” Bing Crosby, and the Nutcracker; but not quite for Christmas. The …

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Daily Dilemma Plus Beef Bone Broth and Barley Soups

Blog, Ecology, Food, Recipes, Work / By kswenson

Shaken. Oh, and stirred. Whomever you voted for on November 8, this election has left a lot of us shaken and stirred up, to boot. How plan the day when the president-elect snubs the Constitution, a delightful friend has invited me for coffee and pie, religious do-gooders chisel away women’s rights, and a mere twenty …

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Be a Dog, Get Outside; It’s National Get Outside Day!

Animals, Blog, Ecology, Non-human Natural World / By kswenson

The din is deafening. It’s morning at our local SPCA, and all anyone wants to do is get outside. I plan as I drive there. Rico will go first, since his kennel is closest and he “holds it” longer than anyone would think is physically possible. Then, the little pair on the other side, the …

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Water, the Gods, and Us

ancient Near East, angels and demons, Animals, Bible and ecology, Non-human Natural World, Uncategorized / By kswenson

Water. Out of the great rivers long ago, mermen of a kind — the Seven Sages — emerged. It was they, ancient Mesopotamians told, who brought the gifts of civilization to humankind. But water was also the amniotic soup of chaos. Only after a god-hero split the sea monster Tiamat in two was life on …

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No Fishing in the Sea of Galilee

Bible and ecology, Bible in politics, Food / By kswenson

The storied “sea” (actually a freshwater lake) where Jesus performed miracles among its fisher-folk and from which Jesus called his disciples to become “fishers of men” is now off limits. Galilean fish stocks are so depleted that Israel has instituted a ban on fishing there, in effect for two years, in the hopes that that piscis population …

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