In July a group of scholars are gathering at St. Andrews, Scotland in order to share thoughts, papers, and conversation on the book of Genesis and Christian Theology. As soon as I saw the announcement for the conference I was thrilled; my own theological interests always seem to orbit around theologians of various times and places reading the first few chapters of Genesis.
At any rate, I got some very good news last week. I submitted a proposal for the conference and received and invitation to attend and read a short paper. I’ll be presenting a paper entitled (subject to change): “Naming God’s Creatures: Gregory of Nyssa on Genesis 2:19-20 and Being Human.” I’ll be examining the way that Gregory deals with human language in the interaction between Adam, God (who is bringing all the creatures to Adam “to see what he would call them”), and creation.
In all honesty, I’m a bit awestruck (not to say terrified) at the opportunity to interact for a few days with the scholars attending. If anyone else will be in the area, I certainly recommend attending what promises to be a inspiring week.
eric daryl meyer 
Wow, congratulations on the invitation!
Kudos on the invite to the “Genesis and Christian Theology” conference.
This series of conferences has produced some really helpful dialogue on a number of fronts. Your specific topic sounds interesting.
Hi Eric,
Yes, my congrats too! What’s the title of the conference? Do they have a website?
I learned in church from our pastor a couple of weeks ago, which reminded me of you, that in Hebrew; the word “dominion” has the meaning, “higher on the root”. It got me thinking about about these kinds of things and while musing at the wheel going to work I began to reflect on hierarchy of life where all creation seems to have an end in support of others somehow, thus the “root”. So with the human race “higher on the root” with our capability of distinguishing spiritual matters with, it seems, a higher resolution; (I do think animals have a pretty good sense of God, my dog told me so); what does that mean with respect to our responsibility to the created order? Obviously, there’s much more to these matters than we understand. In fact, as we deplete the capability of sustaining life, water being one all creation depends on for example, we find ourselves more at odds with each other trying to satisfy our demand. Energy is another. It seems we are on an accelerated curve this way as projections about the future availability of basic natural resources diminish forecast global cooperation and dependency. Times are changing rapidly.
Well, you got me going again. Looking forward to actually talking with you some time. Maybe we’ll call you instead of Carolyn.
Willy
Ah, some of my friends are heading up there from Edinburgh. Hope it is great!
Fantastic news! St. Andrews is a picturesque little village on the water. It even looks magical, like out of a storybook or something. I took my parents there when they came out to visit. Will Carolyn be able to go with you? How long will have over there? I can’t recall if you’ve spent much time in the UK, but Edinburgh is beautiful and shouldn’t be missed on your way. I’m looking forward to hearing how the conference goes!
Hi Eric, I hope you are well. Katie and I very much enjoyed getting to know you in St. Andrews back in July at the conference. I was excited to come across your blog the other day. I will definitely look forward to staying updated on your life and studies. Blessings!