Norman Wirzba, professor of theology and ecology at Duke Divinity School, has been awarded a $40,000 Sabbatical Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute.

The Lilly Endowment-funded grant program enables academics engaged in study of the church and scholarly religious leaders to conduct a major study that can contribute to the vitality of Christianity in North America. The program is based at Louisville Seminary in Kentucky.

This grant will enable Wirzba to devote the 2014-2015 academic year to work on two book projects, both of which fall under the broad heading of "The Human Place in the World."

The first book, which will be published in Baker Academic Press's series "Postmodernism and the Church," will describe Christian life in a post-natural world. In particular, this project will help Christians understand today’s environmental crises in fresh and provocative ways.

The second book, to be published by Cambridge University Press, will examine the relationships between creation, living beings, and creativity. It will develop a picture of human beings as creatures called to share in God’s love of the world.