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millervincent.bsky.social
Vince Miller
@millervincent.bsky.social
920 followers 770 following 120 posts
Theologian wrestling with hope in the face of climate change and ecological destruction.

Private account.
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millervincent.bsky.social
My review of these two wonderful books is greatly enhanced by @davidsankey.bsky.social's astounding cover art. So honored to be on this cover!
November 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Pope #LeoXIV #DilexiTe on the deep theological reasons why the Church must welcome migrants and refugees:
October 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Amazing historical detail on Jesus' class from the Gospels in #DilexiTe from Leo XVI. So much of the exhortation has his quiet, comprehensive, even encyclopedic grasp of the tradition.
October 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Gerard Manley Hopkins knew...
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim...
October 3, 2025 at 3:20 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Female Chinook building her redd; moving silt, sand and basalt with ragged flesh and fin. She knows both meanings of arduum: difficulty and ardor, as she pours out all of her energy flaying flesh against stone to build a home for children she will never see.
October 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Photos from my trip to the McKenzie River in Oregon to write about Salmon and Aquinas's understanding of hope as an animal passion.

So much to learn about hope as "bonum futurum arduum" from these beings of flesh and flow.

You can hear their sound in this photo.
October 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Old friends sharpened and tuned for dovetails -- a skill at which I've grown rusty, alas.
A row of wood chisels arranged in order of size, of mixed ages and makes.
October 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
It's been a joy to review these two wonderful books on rivers by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social and the late James C. Scott for @commonweal.bsky.social
Images of books: "In Praise of Floods" by James Scott and "Is a River Alive?" by Robert Macfarlane.
August 14, 2025 at 4:53 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Excellent piece, as always, by Lynda Mapes. In May, after returning from a visit to HJ Andrews with Mapes and @mattbetts42.bsky.social, a Swainson's stopped in my yard, presumably passing through Ohio to points north.
Swainson's Thrush seen through a window on the ground.
August 11, 2025 at 8:13 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Great gift to share in the work of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network/@lsrioxford.bsky.social conference: “Peacebuilding, Mining, and Integral Human Development” at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.
July 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
I've spent a decent part of 3 Saturdays aligning an old Craftsman tablesaw. Pro-tip: dial indicators go round and round. So, if you are not...smart...you can easily, perfectly, within a .001 misalign the blade by .1" D'oh! Yikes! Read my new book: Precision vs. accuracy for dummies.
WWII vintage dial-indicator on Tablesaw, showing .0 thousandths of an inch.
July 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Belated sharing of my 2024 plenary address at the Catholic Theological Society of America: "Seeking Social Salvation in a World Made Frictionless: Communion, Extractivism and Integral Ecology."
ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ct...
July 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Beginning to work on some stunning Douglas fir (a salvaged wind fall) for a very special project. Planes aren't resharpened yet. I just wanted to get a glimpse at the wood. It is truly astounding.

Look at that light shining off the _unfinished_, hand-planed surface. Magic all around.
19c infill handplane with shavings on a board. Close-up of hand planed board, showing it reflecting light.
May 22, 2025 at 1:52 AM
millervincent.bsky.social
Do I have a puppy? Why do you ask?
May 16, 2025 at 5:39 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Real Pope Leo XIV:
All this can but make us think, and it also raises useful questions. What, in the world of youth today, are the most urgent challenges to be faced? What values are to be promoted? What resources can be counted on? Young people of our time, like those of every age, are a volcano of life, energy, sentiments and ideas. It can be seen from the wonderful things they are able to do, in so many fields. However, they also need help in order for this great wealth to grow in harmony, and to overcome what, albeit in a different way to the past, can still hinder their healthy development. While, for example, in the seventeenth century the use of the Latin language was an insuperable barrier to communication for many people, today there are other obstacles to be faced. Think of the isolation caused by rampant relational models increasingly marked by superficiality, individualism and emotional instability; the spread of patterns of thought weakened by relativism; and the prevalence of rhythms and lifestyles in which there is not enough room for listening, reflection and dialogue, at school, in the family, and sometimes among peers themselves, with consequent loneliness.
May 15, 2025 at 6:56 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Met her on my walk to the "office" this morning.
Female black swallowtail butterfly
April 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
A very sick feeling:

From CO2.earth
Table from CO2.earth showing 10 days of CO2 levels, all above 430ppm
April 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Doctrine is important, but does not replace conversion. This is clear in his most controversial document: Amoris Laetitia – “On Love in the Family” where he states:
We have long thought that simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace, we were providing sufficient support to families, strengthening the marriage bond and giving meaning to marital life. We find it difficult to present marriage more as a dynamic path to personal development and fulfilment than as a lifelong burden. We also find it hard to make room for the consciences of the faithful, who very often respond as best they can to the Gospel amid their limitations, and are capable of carrying out their own discernment in complex situations. We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them.
April 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
First stop on my Spring Hope Lecture Tour:
The Mason Lecture at Georgetown

"Hope in the Ruins: Vocation at the End of the World"

Focus is on hope and disorientation... I didn't think it would be so timely. Lear, Solnit, Newheiser, Aquinas and bit of Rahner.
THE THEOLOGY DEPARTMENT PRESENTS THE 16TH ANNUAL ROBERT S. MASON LECTURE BY VINCENT J. MILLER University of Dayton Hope in the Ruins: Vocation at the End of the World [Vince Miller is the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture, as well as Director of Doctoral Studies, in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Dayton. At UD he is also a sustainability scholar with the Hanley Sustainability Institute and he co-chairs the Laudato si’ Action Platform working group. Dr. Miller is the author of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture and editor of The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected. He is a frequent contributor to Commonweal and America Magazine. He taught at Georgetown University from 1997-2009.] MONDAY, APRIL 7TH 6:00 PM COPLEY FORMAL LOUNGE (FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
April 7, 2025 at 5:06 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
The closest I've gotten to having someone quote BXVI's discussion of structures of the common good in Caritas in Veritate
Text from Benedict XVI, Caritas In Veritate #7 To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity. To take a stand for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally, making it the pólis, or “city”. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practise this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis. This is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbour directly, outside the institutional mediation of the pólis.
February 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
Join Us Tonight: Great lineup discussing Catholic Social Thought and Climate change during 10th Anniversary of Laudato Si'

Emily Burke, Vincent Miller, "Ram" Ramanathan, Susan Solomon

jcu.edu/livable-future
@hankcenterloyola.bsky.social
Poster for "Envisioning a Livable Future" series - event on "Contribution of Catholic Social Thought"
February 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
millervincent.bsky.social
It would be cool to live in a civil society that could debate sentences, not words.
At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.
February 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM