Fresh Waters: Science, Values, and the Role of Theology
Br. Bernard Rapp, FSC Lecture on Faith & Science
March 3, 2025 - 3:30pm
University Dining Room
What kind of thing is water? How do we know water, scientifically, experientially, and ethically? This lecture and conversation explore the manytextures and designations for fresh waters, including its life-giving and pollution-carrying dimensions
in the Chicago area in recentvears. It describes the Catholic Church's theological and ethical identification of access to clean fresh water as a human right (as well as the complications that notion, especially in the legislative and judicial contexts of the United States). Finally, through the topic of fresh waters but also beyond, this lecture-discussion explores how the Catholic Church
in the current era under Pope Francis engages environmental science in formulating ethical norms.
Christiana Zenner, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Theology, Science, and Ethics and affiliated faculty
in Environmental Studies at Fordham University- Lincoln Center. A scholar of the intersections between
ecological science and religious ethics, Dr. Zenner is the author of the book, Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and Global Fresh Water Crises, an expert on the Catholic Church's turn to ecological justice, co-editor of two scholarly books on bioethics and sustainability, author of more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles on fresh water values, climate justice, and religious ethics, and a prominent interpreter of Laudato Si.
This event is not ticketed. Admission free and seating is first come, first served.