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Dave is Director of Theology for A Rocha International, where he works to embed creation care into international Christian organizations, theological institutions, and mission movements. His past roles with A Rocha include being an International Trustee and the co-founder of A Rocha UK (with his wife Anne). He has a PhD from Cambridge University on biblical theology and biodiversity conservation, and has contributed to many books and articles, including Planetwise, available in six languages. Born and raised in India, Dave has a love for Indian food, Indian culture and Indian Christianity. Dave is also a qualified bird-ringer and loves birding, islands, running and mountains.

31st October 2014 | Dave Bookless | 2 comments

Jonah: Save the Whale!

The book of Jonah is short and contains just one story. It’s usually interpreted as reminding us we can’t run away from God, and as showing the Gospel as good news of God’s desire to forgive the sin of people who genuinely turn to him. All this is clearly there, but there’s more to Jonah and to the Gospel than this suggests.

Categories: Reflections
16th October 2014 | Ben Lowe (守仁) | 0 comments

How do we define success?

There’s a strong undercurrent of discouragement and despair in the conservation community. Given the challenges we’re up against, it’s hardly surprising. Needs can be overwhelming—how can we possibly fix them all? Expectations can be just as numerous and challenging—how can we possibly please everyone?

Categories: Questions
15th September 2014 | Panu Pihkala | 0 comments

Places of knowing God and nature

We live in a world where places are less valued than in earlier times. Technology and urbanization lead us away from being connected to places. As bodily creatures, we need bodily connections to places. And nature needs humans who are place-oriented, because such humans take an effort to care for places.

Categories: Reflections
31st August 2014 | Dave Bookless | 2 comments

Jeremiah – A bird’s eye view of the Middle East

Today’s Middle East is beset by tragedy: a litany of human suffering, migration and exile in a region of such beauty and cultural richness. Yet, the Middle East is also one of the great wildlife migration routes: millions of birds take this route to and fro each year. What insights can we gain from linking these two mass migrations, one human, sudden and involuntary, the other avian, regular and instinctive?

15th August 2014 | Peter Harris | 0 comments

Fishing for funds – are there any rules?

It is funny what people say when you tell them you work in conservation. Their reactions are very varied, depending on how you describe it. But if you say you work for a charity (true), surprisingly often people think you are going to ask them for money (false). So as we charity workers actually depend upon people’s generosity, is there a good way to go fishing?

Categories: Reflections
30th June 2014 | Dave Bookless | 6 comments

King David – eco-poet

David was a man of contrasts and often contradictions: shepherd boy and powerful King; mighty warrior and sensitive poet; saint, sinner and song-writer. One striking thing about the Psalms attributed to David is the nature writing they contain. Here are just a few.