The Seminary Explores

Writer and community advocate Will Lane joins Katy Giebenhain for a conversation about the questions we ask ourselves in complex times, especially in a place like Gettysburg.  

Lane is the author of 5 poetry collections: Moonlight Standing in as Cordelia, Elegy for Virginia Redding, In the Barn of God, Trust Rust, and Kin. As an undergraduate he studied Classical Greek at Gettysburg College. For over a decade he worked in the building trade before earning an MA from the Graduate Institute at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He taught for many years in the English and Environmental Studies Department at Gettysburg College. Lane currently serves on the St. James Lutheran Church Council and is integral to Adams County organizations such as the long-running Green Gettysburg Book Club and Democracy for America (DFA). One of the founders of the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice and Project Gettysburg Leon (the town’s sister city in Nicaragua), he lives in Adams County with his wife and partner in Democracy, Anne.

A downloadable transcript was generated using otter.AI.

NOTE (2026-08-10 14:49): We discovered an error in the uploaded file and have uploaded a corrected version. The transcript may have a gap in the transcription and will be updated once we are able to do so.

NOTE (2026-08-12 11:42): Transcript file has been updated.

Dr. Gilson Waldkoenig, Paulssen-Hale-Maurer Professor of Church in Society, and the Director of the Town and Country Church Institute at United Lutheran Seminary, asks that we expand our vision beyond the big-topic issues of the day, important as they are, and embrace three universal needs: energy (including climate); food and health, including water resources; and habitat, both for humans and for our non-human neighbors (“all creatures great and small”).

He suggests specific ways in which congregations are doing their part, for example, energy assessments of their buildings and their “footprints” on the ground; cultivating gardens or supporting a farm; and sponsoring fresh produce markets.

Woodcut by Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677) illustrated Augsburg Confession VII

Nadir Jeevanjee and Nathaniel Tarshish are two members of a group called “Climate Up Close” who share a background in Princeton University research and are traveling with a program that describes, in easy-to-understand terms, what climate change is, how it affects us, and what “bold climate actions” can redress this increasingly critical development. Sharing the scientific consensus on climate change is foremost in their program, using a power point presentation and simple demonstrations, plus a desire to dialogue, even with those who might have a different perspective.

Kate Braband, Senior Associate Director of Program Development, Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia describes the success that the Carter Center, initiated thirty years ago by President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter, has had in controlling guinea worm, one of the more painful and debilitating of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (WTD) in Central Africa. Not long ago, cases numbered in the thousands; today in the twenties. Guinea worm is controlled, not by vaccinations, but by changes in behavior, especially drinking filtered water. Education and supervision are largely in the hands of the locals. Other projects by the Carter Center derive from their mission of building hope, restoring health, and fighting for peace. To achieve these goals, the Center enlists national governments, the United Nations, and international corporations.

Mary Ann Oyler of Oyler’s Organic Farms and Market discusses the process of converting a 6^th generation family fruit farm into an organic farm.  She explains the motivations and challenges of organic farming.  Mary Ann also  details the day to day operations that make an organic farm different from a traditional non-organic farm. 

Dr. Principato describes with clarity and precision the importance of geology for understanding our world, and the current state of the climate.  She is informative, interesting, and compelling!

Dr. Collinge discusses the content and context of the encyclical, Laudato si, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. It is a meditation on created nature and the place of humanity in it. The pope adds something new: he joins the Catholic theology of creation (not anthropology) with the tradition of Catholic social ethics, especially his concern for the poor. 

Dr. Christianson and John Spangler, Executive Assistant to the President for Communication and Planning and former President of the Seminary Ridge Historic Preservation Foundation, explore what we can learn from a small school on a large campus on how to realize a commitment to preserving the environment by “going green:” using new technologies, such as geothermal wells, measuring the “carbon footprint,” recycling, and planting.  The Historic Walking Pathway and campus renewal with new parking and tree planting are prime examples at Gettysburg Seminary. 

Dr. Largen spends this episode talking to The Rev. Dr. David Rhodes about the integral role creation plays in Lutheran Theology, and the resources available for individual Christians, public ministers and congregations who want to learn more about how to bring care for creation into their faith lives. 

Listen to the insightful and interesting reflections on the current crisis in the Holy Land from the Rev. Dr. Angela Zimmann, who recently returned from serving at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.