Name: Jonathan Moo
Job title: Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
Department: Theology
How long have you worked at Whitworth? One year
What do you like best about your job? Getting to know students, sharing with them in the challenge and joy of learning, and so often finding ourselves, in the midst of the academic study of ancient texts, confronted by the beauty, power, majesty and terrifying love of the triune God
In what ways do your gifts and abilities help meet the needs of the campus community you serve? I hope that I can help all of my students, whatever their background or beliefs, come to know the Christian scriptures better and to be captivated by the God whom they reveal to us. I hope that I can encourage and teach theology majors to strive for academic excellence in their scholarship but also never fail to hear the living word of God. I also hope that I can serve the community more widely by building on my interests in the relationship between theology and science and cultivating scientifically-informed and biblically-rooted discussions on ecology and the environment.
Favorite book: A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean (assuming that ‘Desert Island Books’ rules apply, and the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare are taken for granted)
Favorite movie: “Once Upon a Time in the West” (or really any film directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Morricone)
Favorite food: Truffle pasta (necessarily accompanied by good red wine, perhaps a Brunello)
Favorite music: Bach and Johnny Cash
Favorite animal: Moose – I nearly did a Ph.D. studying them, and we share similar habitat preferences
Guilty pleasure: Maps (the release of Google Earth in 2005 set back my Ph.D. by a week)
Hobbies: Travel, hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing and ski touring, fishing, canoeing, and reading. Now that I’m settling down here in Spokane, I hope to return to some long-neglected pursuits such as fly-tying, hunting and carpentry, as well as helping my wife grow our own fruit and vegetables.
Best vacation ever: Probably the last time my wife and I went to Tuscany, in October 2009, when we stayed in an agriturismo just outside Montepulciano. We usually seek out wilder places when we travel, but over the years we have fallen head-over-heels in love with Italy – the landscape, the people, the food, the wine, the beauty of the light . . . .
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
We’d be surprised to know that…I’ve never owned a cell phone or a television (but I’m not really a Luddite! My wife and I watch films and television shows via the Internet).
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? It’s very hard to choose, because there are so many places I would love to go, but most recently I’ve been dreaming of a long wilderness expedition somewhere in eastern Siberia.
If you could try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? I’d make my living writing novels and essays on natural history, theology, and the environment, but really spend most of my time out of doors, live in a cabin in the mountains of northwest Montana, and travel the world (somehow, in my dream, without adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere). In all honesty, though, teaching theology at a place like Whitworth and living relatively near mountains already represents the fulfillment of a dream!
What is your favorite sound? I can’t choose between the call of a loon echoing across a northern lake on a misty morning; the early summer sound of running water and birdsong high in the Rockies; the ringing of church bells in a European village (especially on Christmas morning!); or an ancient cathedral choir singing Bach or Palestrina or Brahms or Verdi or Byrd or Handel.
If the whole world was listening, what would you say? If it were truly possible to communicate in a way that all the world could hear and understand, I would proclaim the good news of Christ.
Favorite childhood book: The earliest book I remember reading over and over again is “Stand Back,” Said the Elephant, “I’m Going to Sneeze!” In grade-school I loved Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Favorite childhood TV show: “The Dukes of Hazard”
If you could go on a road trip with anyone (from the past or present), who would you choose and where would you go? My wife, Stacey, to Alaska
