Barnhill, David Landis 1949-

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BARNHILL, David Landis 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born July 19, 1949, in Indianapolis, IN; son of Charles (an attorney) and Phyllis (a librarian; maiden name, Landis) Barnhill; married Jean Schuit (a reading tutor), July 2, 1977; children: Kathleen Sora, Lee Landis. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Stanford University, B.A., 1971; attended University of Washington, 1974-76; Stanford University, M.A., Ph. D., 1986. Politics: Green Party. Religion: Society of Friends (Quaker). Hobbies and other interests: Backpacking, kayaking, cycling.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Department of Environmental Studies, Oshkosh, WI 54901. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, Dana Professor of Religious Studies, 1986-2003; University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, director of department of environmental studies, 2003—.

MEMBER:

American Academy of Religion, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Western Literature Association.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) At Home on the Earth: Becoming Native to Our Place: A Multicultural History, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1999.

(Editor, with Roger S. Gottlieb) Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Grounds, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2001.

(Translator) Basho's Haiku: Selected Poetry of Matsuo Basho, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2004.

(Translator) Basho's Journey: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2004.

Contributor to journals, including International Journal of Comparative Sociology and Journal of Asian Studies.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Engaging the Earth, a study of the social and political engagement in American nature writing, focusing on Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Edward Abbey, and Rick Bass.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Landis Barnhill is the director of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin. In Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Ground, Barnhill combines his fascination for life and religion in editing, with colleague Roger S. Gottlieb, a collection of thirteen essays by numerous authors in which they discuss the interrelationship between environmentalism and religious faith.

The essays collected by Barnhill and Gottlieb challenge religion on many levels and address spiritual views and religious practices from all over the world. From the perspective of faiths that include Christianity, Hinduism, Confucianism, and ecofeminism, essayists discuss their beliefs surrounding the concept of "deep ecology" and its unique significance to commonly held religious perspectives. Deep ecology is the concept that both human and nonhuman life have inherent value in and of themselves, and it is a concept that challenges most of the world's major faiths on moral and spiritual levels. "Overall, this is a satisfying discussion that showcases the complexities of thoughtful human engagement with our natural environment," stated Sandra Collins in her review for Library Journal.

Regarding his work, Barnhill commented to CA: "How do we experience the beauty and spiritual meaning of nature? How is that related to the pain felt at loss and suffering in the natural and human worlds? How is nature related to human culture, and how should we relate to it? In responding to those questions, what are we called to do? In responding to those questions, I've been particularly influenced by Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, and Wendell Berry, as well as by East Asian aesthetics and religion. The major change has been an intensification of the need to respond to the questions authentically and effectively."