Tyler Mark Nelson is an advanced student in the Masters of Divinity program at Yale Divinity School. He was raised on the northern banks of the Mississippi River, a stretch of the world that figured deeply in helping him come to know who he is.

Tyler began his work life with several years in horticulture, supporting human resources and sales at a large Minnesota greenhouse, leading operations with a university vermiculture and compost program, and farming at an organic lavender farm in eastern Washington state. He’s also spent a great deal of time in the wilderness, most recently with people new to time in wild nature.

Tyler is a Christian. He is a writer and theologian. He’s a climate activist and he’s also a person who has lived with significant mental health challenges. Tyler finds eco-theology and his own experience in the natural world to be reliable supports for living well these days on Earth.

In our conversation we weave childhood clarity with adult wisdom and consider how we may all reach out to the natural world for guidance when the going gets tough.

You can learn more about Tyler by visiting the links below. In particular check out his recent article - Environmental Justice and the Religious Imagination - recently published in the Yale Divinity School Journal, Reflections.

You’ll also find below links for several resources Tyler mentioned today. Each of them helpful to considering how, religious or not, your way of making sense of the world is affected by listening to nature’s wisdom and honoring that kinship. 

Tyler's work with the BTS Center in Maine

GreenFaith

Dr. Willie James Jennings, The Christian Imagination.

William Blake. 18th Century. "To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."

~MUSIC

This episode included music by Gary Ferguson and these fine artists.

Calm My Mind, Music by LesFM from Pixabay

Relaxing by Music for Videos from Pixabay

Touch and Sound by Juan Sanchez from Pixabay