Spiritual resources for conservation in Tibet is topic of Eureka College religion colloquium

EUREKA – Bob Moseley of Congerville, the director of conservation programs at The Nature Conservancy in Illinois, will present “The Sacred Geography of Tibetan Buddhism and its Significance for Nature Conservation” at the Eureka College Garrison Theology Colloquium from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in the East Room in Dickinson Commons, 300 E. College Ave.

The free forum for Eureka College faculty, staff and students; area ministers; and the public will draw from Moseley’s book “Khawa Karpo: Tibetan Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation,” co-authored with Jan Salick, which recounts the authors’ journey through the Tibetan mountains while leading the design of a new national park in the eastern Himalayas.

“Many indigenous societies around the world are predicated on divine spiritscapes, where there is no separation between the spiritual and physical world,” Moseley said. “Tibetan Buddhism is well-known for its worship of spiritscapes, or sacred natural sites, such as mountains, springs, lakes and groves of trees. This intangible sacred geography is often overlooked by secular science and economics, but in fact represents an enormous opportunity for conserving the cultural and biological wealth of the Tibetan world.”

Advance reading on the topic is available by contacting Eureka College associate professor of religion William Wright at [email protected].

Moseley has a master’s degree in botany from the University of Idaho and has worked as a conservation biologist in Idaho and China. At The Nature Conservancy of Illinois he oversees programs that protect the state’s prairie and river habitats.

The Garrison Theology Colloquium is an informal discussion series on current topics in religion and theology. It is named for W.E. Garrison, a historian and theologian who graduated from Eureka College in 1892 and helped found The Christian Century magazine.