Portland Magazine
Environmental Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Theology
June 19, 2019
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING of his career at University of Portland 34 years ago, Russell Butkus knew he wanted to connect his theological studies with his passion for protecting the environment. As an avid fly fisher, he was drawn to wilderness and water and fish and the holiness and responsibility they entail. By 1993 his work took on a decidedly environmental bent. He taught “Christianity and the Environment,” “Salmon and Sacrament,” and “Science, Religion, and Climate Change”—his voluminous academic output has continued to be an exemplar of the power of interdisciplinary cooperation, truth, and the sanctity of God’s creation.
Since 1995 Butkus has teamed with the Molter Chair in Science, Professor Steven Kolmes, to promote environmental and theological awareness on campus and beyond. With the full blessing of their theology department colleagues, Butkus and Kolmes paved the way for a major in environmental studies in 1997. Their award-winning textbook, Environmental Science and Theology in Dialogue (2011), came about when they were unable to find the textbooks they needed for their team-taught environmental studies courses. Today the program boasts 112 majors, a steadily increasing faculty, and a bright future even as its founding directors enter their retirement years.
Butkus retired this spring, though he shows no signs of stopping. He looks forward to connecting with local non-governmental organizations like Oregon Freshwater Trust, traveling, and “rolling up my sleeves and getting out in the field, spending time exploring in the Sandy River basin, the John Day River, you name it. Oregon has so many environments, so many rivers!” He’s right about that, and we can all be grateful he plans to continue his crusade on their behalf.
PHOTO: Steve Hambuchen
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