What Theologians Can Learn From Sufjan Stevens

Theology is at once about everything and nothing. In the search to speak rightly about the divine, one can touch on any subject under the sun. Generally, this ability can be a source of great joy. Yet speaking only for myself, there are few topics so disheartening, depressing and humbling as ecological theology. Disheartening because the scope of the ecological degradation caused by humans is truly overwhelming. Depressing because we, the species who create this destruction, are so often ignorant of even the most basic knowledge of the planet. Humbling because, as Elizabeth Johnson notes, the world and the cosmos are so wonderfully vast, complex and ancient.