Refugia Faith, Creating Sanctuary & Finding Home with Debra Rienstra

In this conversation, Debra Rienstra, PhD, author of Refugia Faith and professor of English at Calvin University, joins Victoria Loorz to explore refugia, a biological term for small pockets of life that survive widespread environmental stress and become sources of regeneration after collapse. Debra invites us to imagine these protected pockets are also in our communities as forms of sanctuary amid increasingly uninhabitable social, spiritual, and ecological conditions. Together, they reflect on how small gatherings rooted in love for the land can counter paralysis in the face of global crisis and rewild our sense of vocation and voice. They explore the spiritual risk of loving places we may not own or keep, while naming how restoration begins through intimate, connected acts of care that allow life to persist and return.

Connect with Debra:

Website: debrarienstra.com
Book: Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth
Newsletter: refugianewsletter.substack.com
Upcoming Book: Refugia Church (January 2027)

Mentioned in the episode:

Connect with the Center:

Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality

Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction
03:48 — Refugia
08:58 — Finding My Small Work
11:44 — Deciding the Work Based on Context
14:33 — Examples of Human Refugia
20:21 — From Passivity to Citizenship
24:21 — Loving Places That Are Only Yours for a Time
29:36 — Choosing to Belong
31:59 — Grieving Reality Together
34:18 — Mitigation and Adaptation
40:02 — A Kalo Farmer in Relationship With the Land
43:04 — The Book of Nature & Pantheism Paranoia
46:30 — The Wild Edge
50:03 — Wild Invitation
53:24 — Credits

Fler avsnitt av The Holy Wild with Victoria Loorz