Rutgers University/Byrne Seminar: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S THEOLOGY Huh?

Although I had been raised in New Jersey, it had nothing to do with deciding to attend Douglass College Pre-Med at Rutgers University. I chose Rutgers for its high academic reputation and standards. And, was introduced to an unknown Bruce Springsteen who came to perform during his college circuit. He bowled us over with his energy and average guy/working class songs.

I was online looking for the exact year he performed at Rutgers, when this course appeared.  I read the title several times before it sunk in that this course referred to the same Bruce Springsteen I have come to revere since Rutgers.

But, a "theologically oriented approach to Bruce Springsteen's lyrics"? Huh?

Bruce Springsteen's Theology

Azzan Yadin-Israel (Jewish Studies)

 

This seminar offers a theologically oriented approach to Bruce Springsteen's lyrics. We will focus on Springsteen's reinterpretation of biblical motifs, the possibility of redemption by earthly means (women, cars, music), and his interweaving of secular and sacred elements. Springsteen’s work will also be situated within thebroader poetic tradition that casts the writer as a religious figure whose message does not effect transcendent salvation, but rather, transforms earthly reality.
 

01:090:101 section 70 index 16799

"

The following is an interview with Professor Assan Yadin-Israel who teaches this seminar.



News of the seminar has spread worldwide, the Professor receiving mail worldwide about it.
But "has not heard from Bruce Springsteen's camp so far."

I have to say, now that I've watched/listened to this interview, I can understand the Professor's pov and would be interested in taking it myself.

p.s. Although this interview was conducted in 2013, the seminar is still being offered at Rutgers as of  2015.



Lost in the Flood, Bruce Springsteen


It's Hard to be a Saint in the City, Bruce Springsteen


Adam Raised a Cain, Bruce Springsteen


The Promised Land, Bruce Springsteen


Jesus was an Only Son, Bruce Springsteen


 

THE VOICE OF A GENERATION By Clara Chaisson of OnEarth.org

"Meet the “anti-Bieber”: Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez is the teenage superstar of the youth-led climate movement." by Clara Chaisson

 

 

On Monday, June 29, two prominent voices of the environmental movement will address a United Nations General Assembly event on climate change to galvanize international momentum ahead of the Paris climate conference. One is actor and longtime conservationist Robert Redford, who has served on NRDC’s board of trustees since 1975 (disclosure). The other is 15-year-old climate activist Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, who is already a seasoned environmental campaigner in his own right.

As youth director of the nonprofit Earth Guardians, Roske-Martinez is committed to ensuring that his peers—and other underserved groups—don’t end up paying the high price of leaders’ inaction. “Youth feel powerless, youth feel like they’re not going to matter, and they’re not going to do anything important for the world until they’re adults,” he says. “I want to represent every voice that is silenced on this planet.” Dubbed the “anti-Bieber,” Roske-Martinez rallies supporters of every age and creed through school presentations, his unique brand of eco hip-hop, and heartfelt speeches.

Raised in the Aztec tradition, Roske-Martinez developed a strong connection to the natural world early on and began passionately defending it at a time of life when most children are learning to read. He emerged as a leader for the youth climate movement at the tender age of six, after watching Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary The 11th Hour. (DiCaprio is also an NRDC trustee.) The film’s depiction of the state of the environment, he says, made him cry inconsolably for six hours. “I didn’t feel like I could not do something about it,” Roske-Martinez says. He told his mom he planned to do everything in his power to make a change, stepped onto the stage at a climate rally, and never looked back.



(If that doesn’t make you want to save the world, see a doctor about your heart of stone.)

Now, at 15, his résumé tells the story of a person who has spent 60 percent of his life tirelessly advocating for change at local and global scales. In his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, his work has helped ban pesticides in public parks, introduce a fee on plastic bags, and enact a moratorium on fracking. In 2012, he was one of the youngest speakers at the RIO+20 U.N. Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and in 2013 he won a Presidential Volunteer of the Year Award.

Public speaking may be old hat for Roske-Martinez by now, but his upcoming address at the U.N.—for which he was selected from 200 applicants—is one of his proudest accomplishments to date. “I have an opportunity to use my voice, to use my passions, to raise awareness—and to talk to a really freakin’ huge audience,” he says.

On Monday, Roske-Martinez hopes to inspire representatives to believe that there are solutions for a better world. “This generation gets to decide what kind of world future generations will live in forever,” he says. “I believe we have the power to turn things around. It’s really our responsibility.”

And, now at 15, speaking at United Nations about Climate Change.


Xiuhtezcatl, Indigenous Climate Activist at the High-level event on Climate Change


Nothing But Flowers, Talking Heads


http://whoseroleisitanyway.blogspot.com

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY's 2015 Photography Awards

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2015/2015-audubon-photography-awards-top-100

National Audubon Society

Our mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

Below are two beautiful photos of the 100 found on the links above and below:

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2015/2015-audubon-photography-awards-top-100