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Making Peace with the Land
God is reconciling all things in heaven and on earth. We are alienated not only from one another, but also from the land that sustains us. Our ecosystems are increasingly damaged, and human bodies are likewise degraded. Most of us have little understanding of how our energy is derived or our food is produced, and many of our current industrialized practices are both unhealthy for our bodies and unsustainable for the planet. Agriculturalist Fred Bahnson and theologian Norman Wirzba declare that in Christ, God reconciles all bodies into a peaceful, life-promoting relationship with one another. Because human beings are incarnated in material, bodily existence, we are necessarily interdependent with plants and animals, land and sea, heaven and earth. The good news is that redemption is cosmic, with implications for agriculture and ecology, from farm to dinner table. Bahnson and Wirzba describe communities that model cooperative practices of relational life, with local food production, eucharistic eating and delight in God's provision. Reconciling with the land is a rich framework for a new way of life. Read this book to start down the path to restoring shalom and experiencing Jesus' kingdom of shared abundance, where neighbors are fed and all receive enough.
182 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2012
22 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
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March 5, 2022
Growing up, I don’t remember a single sermon or lesson on how Christians ought to live on/with the land. The more I think about this, the more ironic it becomes, because the land is where most of the people I knew spent most of their lives!
It’s sad to think that people may spend their entire lives raising cattle, farming, feeding and milking dairy cows, etc, and to do all this without a distinctive Christian vision of the land. And yet, why would we expect this? It’s all gonna burn away anyway. Right? Why would we NOT extract as much as we can in the meantime?
Wirzba and Bahnson show how this extraction and consumer mindset is fueled by escapist theologies and “ecological amnesia” — our ignorance of our creatureliness and interconnectedness with others. And so we suffer from what they call an “impoverished imagination”. Which explains a lot. It explains why the rare voices that question the agribusiness industry are easily dismissed as promoting “leftist agendas”, herbicides and fertilizers are simply a given (no second thoughts), food is essentially seen as a cheap and tasty commodity, the conditions under which animals are raised don’t really matter, etc.
As Christians, “we have a hard time imagining that God desires all creatures—human and nonhuman, living and nonliving—to be reconciled with each other and with God” (p. 21).
But in the book, there are also plenty of examples and stories about people who do this well, initiatives that embody reconciliation with the land by practicing what they call “regenerative agriculture”. These are perhaps my favorite sections of the book.
So yes. The book is much more than lament after lament. It’s super constructive and hopeful about our future. In essence, Wirzba and Bahnson help readers appreciate how it is that all things, including the land, are reconciled in Christ (Col. 1:20).
It’s sad to think that people may spend their entire lives raising cattle, farming, feeding and milking dairy cows, etc, and to do all this without a distinctive Christian vision of the land. And yet, why would we expect this? It’s all gonna burn away anyway. Right? Why would we NOT extract as much as we can in the meantime?
Wirzba and Bahnson show how this extraction and consumer mindset is fueled by escapist theologies and “ecological amnesia” — our ignorance of our creatureliness and interconnectedness with others. And so we suffer from what they call an “impoverished imagination”. Which explains a lot. It explains why the rare voices that question the agribusiness industry are easily dismissed as promoting “leftist agendas”, herbicides and fertilizers are simply a given (no second thoughts), food is essentially seen as a cheap and tasty commodity, the conditions under which animals are raised don’t really matter, etc.
As Christians, “we have a hard time imagining that God desires all creatures—human and nonhuman, living and nonliving—to be reconciled with each other and with God” (p. 21).
But in the book, there are also plenty of examples and stories about people who do this well, initiatives that embody reconciliation with the land by practicing what they call “regenerative agriculture”. These are perhaps my favorite sections of the book.
So yes. The book is much more than lament after lament. It’s super constructive and hopeful about our future. In essence, Wirzba and Bahnson help readers appreciate how it is that all things, including the land, are reconciled in Christ (Col. 1:20).
January 13, 2023
Perfect. A short and easy read that stretches the imagination to dream again of meaningful work in the world and for it.
February 18, 2013
In reading this I discovered that 99% of Americans are not positioned to grow their own food and that while 1 billion are starving, another billion have a problem with obesity. Clearly, our relationship with food, the land, and our starving neighbor needs healing.
That's what this book is about. Bahnson and Wirzba take turns writing considering our estranged relationship with the land, how we may experience reconciliation not only to God and each other in Christ but also with the land and how we get our food. They have some particularly important things to say about how energy dependent our food production is and how toxic our patterns of food production may be both for us and the land. And they feature the work of ECHO and others who not only are practicing sustainable food production but also diversifying the sources of food (it was fascinating to discover how nourishing the maringa tree can be, for example).
One of the delightful things about this book is the authors love of good food shared around the table. Our fast food diets not only rob us of good nutrition but also the joys of table fellowship. This book opened to me new dimensions of Christ's reconciling work--with the land, with food, and with the others with whom I share the land.
That's what this book is about. Bahnson and Wirzba take turns writing considering our estranged relationship with the land, how we may experience reconciliation not only to God and each other in Christ but also with the land and how we get our food. They have some particularly important things to say about how energy dependent our food production is and how toxic our patterns of food production may be both for us and the land. And they feature the work of ECHO and others who not only are practicing sustainable food production but also diversifying the sources of food (it was fascinating to discover how nourishing the maringa tree can be, for example).
One of the delightful things about this book is the authors love of good food shared around the table. Our fast food diets not only rob us of good nutrition but also the joys of table fellowship. This book opened to me new dimensions of Christ's reconciling work--with the land, with food, and with the others with whom I share the land.
July 13, 2014
Pg. 80-81
In 1958, Clarence Jordan delivered a sermon explaining why he had not yet left the bruised and battered land that is Koinonia Farm. He said:
Fifteen years ago we went there and bought that old run-down eroded piece of land. It was sick. There gashes in it. It was sore and bleeding. I don’t know whether you’ve ever walked over a piece of ground that could almost cry out to you and say “heal me, heal me.” I don’t know if you feel the closeness to the soil that I do. But when you fill in those old gullies and terrace the fields and you begin to feel the springiness of the sod beneath your feet and you begin to feel that old land come to life and when you walk through a little old pine forest that you set out in little seedlings and now you see them reaching for the sky and you hear the wind through them; when you walk a little further over a bit of ground…and you go on over a hill where you children and all the many visitors have held picnics and you walk across a creek that you’ve bathed in the heat of summer, and men say to you “why don’t you sell it and move away?” they might as well ask, “why don’t you sell your mother.” Somehow Go has made us out of this old soil and we got back to it and we never lose its claim on us. It isn’t a simple matter to leave it.
In 1958, Clarence Jordan delivered a sermon explaining why he had not yet left the bruised and battered land that is Koinonia Farm. He said:
Fifteen years ago we went there and bought that old run-down eroded piece of land. It was sick. There gashes in it. It was sore and bleeding. I don’t know whether you’ve ever walked over a piece of ground that could almost cry out to you and say “heal me, heal me.” I don’t know if you feel the closeness to the soil that I do. But when you fill in those old gullies and terrace the fields and you begin to feel the springiness of the sod beneath your feet and you begin to feel that old land come to life and when you walk through a little old pine forest that you set out in little seedlings and now you see them reaching for the sky and you hear the wind through them; when you walk a little further over a bit of ground…and you go on over a hill where you children and all the many visitors have held picnics and you walk across a creek that you’ve bathed in the heat of summer, and men say to you “why don’t you sell it and move away?” they might as well ask, “why don’t you sell your mother.” Somehow Go has made us out of this old soil and we got back to it and we never lose its claim on us. It isn’t a simple matter to leave it.
November 10, 2013
I loved the subject and both authors had some really good things to say, but I felt like lots of little ideas kinda flew by me without being elaborated for long enough to really provide a new coherent framework. But maybe that is okay. If anything the idea of permaculture has been taken out of the realm of scary hippy ritual in dark forests involving hallucinogenics and tinctures, to pretty interesting method for sustainable farming.
May 16, 2019
When I became sick (from chronic migraines and adrenal insufficiency) I began to read this at the recommendation of an agrarian Christian thinker. I wanted to reevaluate how I viewed food, how it worked with my body, and what my role as a typical American should be in working with food.
It didn't last long, a bunch of other issues sprang up and grabbed my attention and the book sat on the shelf. Then a few months ago I picked it back up as I began also thinking through these big questions again after making my first garden in the backyard. Now I have plans and development for a full .25 acre garden permaculture. This book has played a significant role in helping me understand the importance of doing so. There are so many facets, so many important ways to understand food in the world and the spiritual calling to how we view food and this book is really a priceless volume. I used the appendix to buy other book recommendations. So I am still in the beginning stages but am absorbing and thinking through it all as much as I possibly can. I highly recommend this book as a starting resource to understand food, solid food practices, and developing a justice theology in eating and growing food (being stewards)
It didn't last long, a bunch of other issues sprang up and grabbed my attention and the book sat on the shelf. Then a few months ago I picked it back up as I began also thinking through these big questions again after making my first garden in the backyard. Now I have plans and development for a full .25 acre garden permaculture. This book has played a significant role in helping me understand the importance of doing so. There are so many facets, so many important ways to understand food in the world and the spiritual calling to how we view food and this book is really a priceless volume. I used the appendix to buy other book recommendations. So I am still in the beginning stages but am absorbing and thinking through it all as much as I possibly can. I highly recommend this book as a starting resource to understand food, solid food practices, and developing a justice theology in eating and growing food (being stewards)
December 9, 2020
This has been a really eye-opening book which has been both challenging and encouraging. Reading it as part of a book club was a great way to creatively imagine the ideas and topics raised with others and to learn from others at various stages of living in a more sustainable way. I highly recommend this for anyone who is interested in sacraments, food habits, sustainable development, ecology, gardening, community, reconciliation and theology. It is essential that Christians are engaging with these issues if they want to have anything to say to those who we are currently exploiting out of complicit habits of consumption. As it stands, our consumerism bears no resemblance to good news. I really appreciate the more focused angle that the book takes, instead of just throwing out a load of scary statistics or laying on guilt, it’s focus is both realistic and hopeful. It is profoundly practical and informative of a whole world view of sustainability, rather than just a western one. The fact that this book a collaboration between a theologian and an ecologist gives it a good depth and the chapters provide a rich and informed dialogue.
January 26, 2021
There are some great insights and thoughts in this book. It is worth the read. However for me, where I live, some of the arguments made don't resonate, and the author does not provide any supporting evidence/footnotes/endnotes for a lot of his claims. I don't agree with some of his claims, but would respect them if supported. Instead what he shares comes across as conjecture or opinion though I suspect there is support out there. There also seems to be some simplification of issues... he's very pro some environmental solutions yet ignores known complications and factors that limit those solutions in the short term (I do believe they will improve over time as most technology does).
overall worthwhile read for the insights he offers, but felt a lot of his points got lost in his writing style.
overall worthwhile read for the insights he offers, but felt a lot of his points got lost in his writing style.
May 8, 2021
These books written by Duke's Center for Reconciliation are awesome. Taking a person in practice and one in thought, and writing about their experiences allows for a lot of bases to be covered. Reconciliation back with the land is a weird concept to consider, but I would say Wirzba's words effected my thoughts the most by reminding what reconciliation to Christ looks like, and translating that into our relationship with the land.
There are definitely some holes in the grand scheme of land ethics and proper care of it with a Christian perspective, but I thought this did a great job at priming me to at least beg the question of what it should look like.
There are definitely some holes in the grand scheme of land ethics and proper care of it with a Christian perspective, but I thought this did a great job at priming me to at least beg the question of what it should look like.
June 25, 2021
Making Peace with the Land was inspiring, it's hard to capture all the wealth of this book in one short review. While not everyone will end up farming because of this book, Bahnson and Wirzba do a phenomenal job showing how land and agriculture are foundational Christian concerns and foundational to the social prerogative Christians have to love their neighbor. Four stars because I was concerned at the lack of citations to some of their claims, only to find my biggest publisher pet peeve of phrase citation notes in the back of the book. Upon this discovery, I can happily endorse this book as well-sourced and vital to reconciliation effort in America and abroad.
June 3, 2022
Making Peace with the Land gives us a relatively brief introduction to our calling to be reconciled with the land. The book is coauthored, and each of the chapters is written by an alternating author. The first chapter is written by Norman Wirzba, the second by Fred Bahnson. This cycle repeats three times. Wirzba is the better theologian, while Bahnson has more practical experience. Together this results in a book which leaves us with both a solid theological basis and practical examples of what reconciliation with the land might look like.
I found this book to be solid and helpful, though I’ll admit I read it already in broad sympathy with its arguments.
I found this book to be solid and helpful, though I’ll admit I read it already in broad sympathy with its arguments.
July 1, 2023
This book is thought-provoking and increasingly relevant for people living in a world ravaged by climate change.
I will admit, however that I found myself bored every now and then. One thing I would have liked more about is how the “everyday Christian” can become closer to the land without, say, having a massive garden and growing their own food. How can those of us who can’t (or don’t want to) dedicate large amounts of time to sustainable farming practices still live more sustainably and in communion with God and the land?
That being said, I did learn a lot from this book, and it made me think more about the ecological consequences of my actions, which I appreciated.
I will admit, however that I found myself bored every now and then. One thing I would have liked more about is how the “everyday Christian” can become closer to the land without, say, having a massive garden and growing their own food. How can those of us who can’t (or don’t want to) dedicate large amounts of time to sustainable farming practices still live more sustainably and in communion with God and the land?
That being said, I did learn a lot from this book, and it made me think more about the ecological consequences of my actions, which I appreciated.
June 15, 2023
A very well-done explanation of why reconciliation is meant to extend to ALL of creation, not just humans. I especially enjoyed the idea of the abundant kingdom vs. the abundant mirage. Wirzba says "eating is the daily enactment of our dependence on other people, the land, and ultimately God." Bahnson and Wirzba do a great job of illustrating that how we eat and how we treat the land around us are of utmost importance to God. The perfect companion read to Garbage Theology. 4.5 stars.
November 12, 2023
I loved the perspective on loving the earth BECAUSE we are Christians. I've always been convicted about that since I was little, but you don't hear this side very often. However, I think the author was too extreme and unrealistic at times, and the book would be off-putting if you aren't already super passionate about this topic. It was perfect for our agricultural development team to discuss together, but didn't have a ton of takeaways.
August 11, 2016
Fantastic. Almost every page challenged me and made me think - and want to learn more, be better. That's the hard part.
"We have to wonder what we're missing when we've so arranged our world that we don't need to know where our food or the energy to heat our homes comes from."
"It is only we moderns who think of [the places where Jesus taught] as quaint backdrops, interchangeable stage settings on which the real action takes place -- the preaching and and praying, the baptizing and converting, the healing and resurrecting. Yet the mystery of the incarnation means that these places are inseparable from the story itself. They are also a part of the incarnation of Christ. Indeed, the atoms and molecules of the Galilean hill country went into Jesus' body and came out of it as well. Likewise, the soils and watersheds and air are a part of our own salvation narrative."
"What if climate change, species depletion and the long litany of ecological woes were, at root, an inability to acknowledge or feel God's presence in the land?"
"The gospel points us toward a new garden kingdom we're to seek, a heavenly kingdom that breaks into our damaged Eden. Its marks are restored relationships between people, yes. But for it to really be the kingdom of God, it must also demonstrate restored relationships with the actual land on which actual people live. Otherwise it remains a kingdom of gnostics, whose heads float five feet above the ground and who never quite feel the earth beneath their feet. We're heaing not only toward a new heaven but a new earth as well (Rev. 21)."
"The goal is that our embodied living radiates and becomes the perpetual express of God's glory."
"It is the character of God's creativity that it establishes relationships--of fertility, nutrition and beauty--in which creatures can become fully alive."
Something I didn't know about the Roman empire -- "to grow the wheat to make the bread that would feed the home populations, small farmers around the Mediterranean were forcibly removed from their landds so that huge estates, called latifundia, could grow the commodities of grain or olive oil consumers back home wanted. Latifundia were the spoils of war made productive on the backs of slaves."
"Jesus holds things together - makes possible a symphonic life -- because he introduces and embodies the love that creates harmony and conviviality rather than degradation and destruction. We could say that he unleashes a power that nurtures and enlivens others so that they can become all that God wants them to be."
"In agriculture, as in much of modern life, we have substituted oil and technology for people, and this has allowed us to erect an impressive scaffolding know as the food system."
"The demonic most often appears as a close shadow of the good, hard to distinguish until one looks closer."
"We don't know what it means to feast at God's abundant table, because we have our faces buried in a feed trough."
"It takes 7.3 calories of oil energy to produce one calorie of food."
"Our food system is one of the powers and principalities, fallen and in need of redemption."
"Food is not a product. It is not "food for the machine." It is not a commodity or a reflection or our technological ingenuity. It is before everything else an unearned gift from God, manna from heaven, a blessing."
"Jesus deserves better than the rejects of the abundant mirage."
"We've settled for a paltry vision of an earthly life whose main purpose is to serve as a holding tank for the next."
"God's shalom is a wily and mysterious creature, shy and elusive around the world's probing gaze, but one that lifts its head whenever we treat the land and those who dwell on with care."
"Inspired and shaped by Christ's reconciling life, we must concern ourselves with the well-being of animals, working to make sure that they can live the life God intends for them. When we treat chickens the way God expects, which means that we devote ourselves to their care, shame disappears to make from for celebration."
"food is an inexhaustible mystery. Life is a fragile and vulnerable gift we hardly understand, much less control. Although we prepare the ground, plant the see and then nurture the plant, a good harvest and a delicious meal depend on so many gifts from God that we can hardly enumerate them. Soil decomposition, photosynthesis, hydrological cycles, plant and animal health, pollination, pollinators and animal reproduction: it is easy to take these gifts for granted. It is dangerous, too, if we begin to think that nothing we do puts these gifts in jeopardy."
"Are we not startled by the fact that God created a world that tastes so good? Are we not perpetually amazed that a grain of wheat can be transformed into the many kinds of breads and cakes and cookies that make our life a joy?"
"To take part in God's reconciliation of the world is not to pine after some lost Eden. It is to live in anticipation of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city come down to earth."
"The Way God redeems the world is to make the world more fully itself, just as the way God redeems us makes us more fully ourselves."
"We have to wonder what we're missing when we've so arranged our world that we don't need to know where our food or the energy to heat our homes comes from."
"It is only we moderns who think of [the places where Jesus taught] as quaint backdrops, interchangeable stage settings on which the real action takes place -- the preaching and and praying, the baptizing and converting, the healing and resurrecting. Yet the mystery of the incarnation means that these places are inseparable from the story itself. They are also a part of the incarnation of Christ. Indeed, the atoms and molecules of the Galilean hill country went into Jesus' body and came out of it as well. Likewise, the soils and watersheds and air are a part of our own salvation narrative."
"What if climate change, species depletion and the long litany of ecological woes were, at root, an inability to acknowledge or feel God's presence in the land?"
"The gospel points us toward a new garden kingdom we're to seek, a heavenly kingdom that breaks into our damaged Eden. Its marks are restored relationships between people, yes. But for it to really be the kingdom of God, it must also demonstrate restored relationships with the actual land on which actual people live. Otherwise it remains a kingdom of gnostics, whose heads float five feet above the ground and who never quite feel the earth beneath their feet. We're heaing not only toward a new heaven but a new earth as well (Rev. 21)."
"The goal is that our embodied living radiates and becomes the perpetual express of God's glory."
"It is the character of God's creativity that it establishes relationships--of fertility, nutrition and beauty--in which creatures can become fully alive."
Something I didn't know about the Roman empire -- "to grow the wheat to make the bread that would feed the home populations, small farmers around the Mediterranean were forcibly removed from their landds so that huge estates, called latifundia, could grow the commodities of grain or olive oil consumers back home wanted. Latifundia were the spoils of war made productive on the backs of slaves."
"Jesus holds things together - makes possible a symphonic life -- because he introduces and embodies the love that creates harmony and conviviality rather than degradation and destruction. We could say that he unleashes a power that nurtures and enlivens others so that they can become all that God wants them to be."
"In agriculture, as in much of modern life, we have substituted oil and technology for people, and this has allowed us to erect an impressive scaffolding know as the food system."
"The demonic most often appears as a close shadow of the good, hard to distinguish until one looks closer."
"We don't know what it means to feast at God's abundant table, because we have our faces buried in a feed trough."
"It takes 7.3 calories of oil energy to produce one calorie of food."
"Our food system is one of the powers and principalities, fallen and in need of redemption."
"Food is not a product. It is not "food for the machine." It is not a commodity or a reflection or our technological ingenuity. It is before everything else an unearned gift from God, manna from heaven, a blessing."
"Jesus deserves better than the rejects of the abundant mirage."
"We've settled for a paltry vision of an earthly life whose main purpose is to serve as a holding tank for the next."
"God's shalom is a wily and mysterious creature, shy and elusive around the world's probing gaze, but one that lifts its head whenever we treat the land and those who dwell on with care."
"Inspired and shaped by Christ's reconciling life, we must concern ourselves with the well-being of animals, working to make sure that they can live the life God intends for them. When we treat chickens the way God expects, which means that we devote ourselves to their care, shame disappears to make from for celebration."
"food is an inexhaustible mystery. Life is a fragile and vulnerable gift we hardly understand, much less control. Although we prepare the ground, plant the see and then nurture the plant, a good harvest and a delicious meal depend on so many gifts from God that we can hardly enumerate them. Soil decomposition, photosynthesis, hydrological cycles, plant and animal health, pollination, pollinators and animal reproduction: it is easy to take these gifts for granted. It is dangerous, too, if we begin to think that nothing we do puts these gifts in jeopardy."
"Are we not startled by the fact that God created a world that tastes so good? Are we not perpetually amazed that a grain of wheat can be transformed into the many kinds of breads and cakes and cookies that make our life a joy?"
"To take part in God's reconciliation of the world is not to pine after some lost Eden. It is to live in anticipation of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city come down to earth."
"The Way God redeems the world is to make the world more fully itself, just as the way God redeems us makes us more fully ourselves."
March 26, 2022
This book is an accessible, vivid, and beautiful portrayal of what it means to reconcile with the land and lean into God's abundance through sustainable ecological theology. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the intersection of creation care and faithful living.
August 19, 2021
Very disturbing, but probably true in direction and outcome.
December 14, 2023
Inspirational, informative, and thought provoking. I enjoyed reading a biblically sound take on sustainable agriculture and the many good examples they shared.
August 19, 2025
A valuable and enlightening read
August 14, 2012
The newest offering from IVP Books’ Resources for Reconciliation series is Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation. The Resources for Reconciliation series pairs a practitioner with an academician, who then together address the theology and practice of reconciliation in a given sphere of life.
Practitioner Fred Bahnson is an agriculturalist and writer (and excellent theologian); academician Norman Wirzba is a theology professor at Duke Divinity School (and grounded practitioner). Making Peace with the Land makes the Biblical case that “redemption is cosmic,” and so extends to the whole created order, not just humanity. God wants all creatures (“human and nonhuman”) to be “reconciled with each other and with God.” In other words, our Biblical theology of reconciliation is anemic if it does not extend to a loving stewardship of the whole of God’s creation. The authors warn against “ecological amnesia.”
Our “ecological amnesia” is at its core a theological issue. God is God of the soil, a gardener who loves the soil and brings forth life through it (as noted in Genesis). But we have worked against the land in developing systems and structures for farming that draw heavily on “our own agricultural scheme” and “monocultures of annual crops.” Instead we need to “look to nature as a model for how to practice agriculture,” engaging in what Bahnson calls regenerative agriculture, founded on the truth that “the ecosystems in which we find ourselves–created by God and deemed ‘very good’–are far more adept at growing things than we are.” The profile in chapter 6 of the work of ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) both astounded and inspired me.
Bahnson and Wirzba are compelling: “Surely it is a contradiction to profess belief in the Creator while showing disregard or disdain for the works of the Creator’s hands.” After reading a lengthy description of how Chicken McNuggets are made, I was about ready to become a vegetarian. Regardless of how the phrase “animal rights” makes you feel, animal torture is not possibly justifiable by those who have been called to co-steward the creation with God.
At times I desired more exegetical nuance when the authors dealt with Scripture. For example, though the prologue is convincing enough that we ought to view God as gardener, to accept that God’s gardening work is “the most fundamental and indispensable expression of the divine love that creates, sustains, and reconciles the world” is difficult for me to… well… reconcile with the expression of divine love on the cross. In the end, it’s all of the above. That said, Bahnson’s note on the acacia tree in Isaiah 41:18-19 as a nitrogen-fixing tree and thus “divine agroforestry advice” was awesome. And the authors do affirm elsewhere that reconciliation begins with the person and work of Jesus–it is in Jesus that all things hold together, as they point out from Colossians 1.
Many of us practice “a sort of gnostic disdain for manual labor, soil husbandry, caring for physical places and living within our ecological limits.” If I make enough money to simply buy food, I don’t need to get close to that food except to pick it up at the store (or restaurant!). Then I eat it and keep going with my work, however disconnected I may be from the source of that food. However, "Reconciliation with the land means learning to see the land as part of God’s redemptive plan and acknowledge God’s ongoing presence there. That will require putting ourselves in proximity to the land and staying there long enough to be changed."
After reading this book, I’m unsettled. I’m a lot farther from “the land” than I perhaps should be. I’m not sure what to do with that.
But if I’m unsettled, I’m also inspired. What if I allowed my having been reconciled with Christ to inform a ministry of reconciliation not limited to other people? What if we followed Wirzba’s advice to allow our weekly “Eucharistic eating” to “not only transform the eating we do with people,” but to also transform “the entire act of eating, which means [changing] the way we go about growing, harvesting, processing, distributing, preparing and then sharing the food we daily eat”?
That would be an abundant life.
(Thank you to IVP for the free review copy, in exchange for an unbiased review, and–as it turns out–a re-examined life. This review is a condensation of one posted at abramkj.wordpress.com)
Practitioner Fred Bahnson is an agriculturalist and writer (and excellent theologian); academician Norman Wirzba is a theology professor at Duke Divinity School (and grounded practitioner). Making Peace with the Land makes the Biblical case that “redemption is cosmic,” and so extends to the whole created order, not just humanity. God wants all creatures (“human and nonhuman”) to be “reconciled with each other and with God.” In other words, our Biblical theology of reconciliation is anemic if it does not extend to a loving stewardship of the whole of God’s creation. The authors warn against “ecological amnesia.”
Our “ecological amnesia” is at its core a theological issue. God is God of the soil, a gardener who loves the soil and brings forth life through it (as noted in Genesis). But we have worked against the land in developing systems and structures for farming that draw heavily on “our own agricultural scheme” and “monocultures of annual crops.” Instead we need to “look to nature as a model for how to practice agriculture,” engaging in what Bahnson calls regenerative agriculture, founded on the truth that “the ecosystems in which we find ourselves–created by God and deemed ‘very good’–are far more adept at growing things than we are.” The profile in chapter 6 of the work of ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) both astounded and inspired me.
Bahnson and Wirzba are compelling: “Surely it is a contradiction to profess belief in the Creator while showing disregard or disdain for the works of the Creator’s hands.” After reading a lengthy description of how Chicken McNuggets are made, I was about ready to become a vegetarian. Regardless of how the phrase “animal rights” makes you feel, animal torture is not possibly justifiable by those who have been called to co-steward the creation with God.
At times I desired more exegetical nuance when the authors dealt with Scripture. For example, though the prologue is convincing enough that we ought to view God as gardener, to accept that God’s gardening work is “the most fundamental and indispensable expression of the divine love that creates, sustains, and reconciles the world” is difficult for me to… well… reconcile with the expression of divine love on the cross. In the end, it’s all of the above. That said, Bahnson’s note on the acacia tree in Isaiah 41:18-19 as a nitrogen-fixing tree and thus “divine agroforestry advice” was awesome. And the authors do affirm elsewhere that reconciliation begins with the person and work of Jesus–it is in Jesus that all things hold together, as they point out from Colossians 1.
Many of us practice “a sort of gnostic disdain for manual labor, soil husbandry, caring for physical places and living within our ecological limits.” If I make enough money to simply buy food, I don’t need to get close to that food except to pick it up at the store (or restaurant!). Then I eat it and keep going with my work, however disconnected I may be from the source of that food. However, "Reconciliation with the land means learning to see the land as part of God’s redemptive plan and acknowledge God’s ongoing presence there. That will require putting ourselves in proximity to the land and staying there long enough to be changed."
After reading this book, I’m unsettled. I’m a lot farther from “the land” than I perhaps should be. I’m not sure what to do with that.
But if I’m unsettled, I’m also inspired. What if I allowed my having been reconciled with Christ to inform a ministry of reconciliation not limited to other people? What if we followed Wirzba’s advice to allow our weekly “Eucharistic eating” to “not only transform the eating we do with people,” but to also transform “the entire act of eating, which means [changing] the way we go about growing, harvesting, processing, distributing, preparing and then sharing the food we daily eat”?
That would be an abundant life.
(Thank you to IVP for the free review copy, in exchange for an unbiased review, and–as it turns out–a re-examined life. This review is a condensation of one posted at abramkj.wordpress.com)
July 27, 2012
When I have heard theologians talk about the environment and creation, it tends to border on the typical vague "steward the land" motif. Although I absolutely affirm stewardship, most of the times it doesn't translate into anything deep or practical, and at worse even ignores the most obvious structural problems such as consumerism and exploitative land use in agriculture and industry.
Thankfully, I would say that this book gave me faith that Christians, both theologians and laity, CAN speak meaningfully about practical Creation/environmental ethics while at the same time embedding it into the Christian narratives of atonement, reconciliation, and redemption, something that isn't easy. With each writer bringing different angles and perspectives, the book covers the inter-relationship between a lot of topics such as food, justice, community, energy, agriculture, and even eschatology that could in and of themselves be separate books. From the Desert Church Fathers to contemporary agrarians like Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry, this books employs many wise and thoughtful writers, while at the same time giving real world examples of people enacting and embodying Creational shalom within their communities and churches.
As someone who is familiar with agrarian writers and other environmentally conscious thinkers, this book didn't necessarily present anything new or radical in my mind (hence my 4 stars), but for those (especially Christians who are primarily steeped in soul winning/body denying spirituality)who want to begin thinking about the relationship between Creation and Christianity should look no further.
My only fear with this book is that it could be read too fast since it is only a little over 150 pages. Thus, I recommend reading it twice. I know I will.
Thankfully, I would say that this book gave me faith that Christians, both theologians and laity, CAN speak meaningfully about practical Creation/environmental ethics while at the same time embedding it into the Christian narratives of atonement, reconciliation, and redemption, something that isn't easy. With each writer bringing different angles and perspectives, the book covers the inter-relationship between a lot of topics such as food, justice, community, energy, agriculture, and even eschatology that could in and of themselves be separate books. From the Desert Church Fathers to contemporary agrarians like Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry, this books employs many wise and thoughtful writers, while at the same time giving real world examples of people enacting and embodying Creational shalom within their communities and churches.
As someone who is familiar with agrarian writers and other environmentally conscious thinkers, this book didn't necessarily present anything new or radical in my mind (hence my 4 stars), but for those (especially Christians who are primarily steeped in soul winning/body denying spirituality)who want to begin thinking about the relationship between Creation and Christianity should look no further.
My only fear with this book is that it could be read too fast since it is only a little over 150 pages. Thus, I recommend reading it twice. I know I will.
September 22, 2012
What a refreshing read after "The Worst Hard Times!" The Dust Bowl book was 300 pages of despair caused by poor farming, conversely this book is 173 pages of hope! There are people out there that understand the blessedness of creation care and to top it off, are committed to transferring this knowledge and practice around the world to food desperate places.
pg. 30 - economic systems that succeed by destroying the earth
pg. 45 - Type 2 diabetes for 1/3 of children born after 2000
pg. 73 - new creation means that we no longer engaged in tired, old, and broken ways
pg. 85 - the demonic as a close shadow of the good
pg. 101 - energy spent not on protesting but in providing better alternatives
pg. 123 - the Eucharist as a time to put to death all self-serving impulses
pg. 138 - ECHO!!! reconciling Christian ministry
pg. 141 - Moringo oleifera (miracle tree)
pg. 152 - refusing to believe the myth of hunger
pg. 30 - economic systems that succeed by destroying the earth
pg. 45 - Type 2 diabetes for 1/3 of children born after 2000
pg. 73 - new creation means that we no longer engaged in tired, old, and broken ways
pg. 85 - the demonic as a close shadow of the good
pg. 101 - energy spent not on protesting but in providing better alternatives
pg. 123 - the Eucharist as a time to put to death all self-serving impulses
pg. 138 - ECHO!!! reconciling Christian ministry
pg. 141 - Moringo oleifera (miracle tree)
pg. 152 - refusing to believe the myth of hunger
October 3, 2015
This was a thought provoking book... Some new perspectives in Christian faith I had not considered although, as a homesteader my life has become sculpted towards this core view... Taking the Genesis view, God created a world that should nurture but we rebelled from it. Christ wants to reconcile us to the Godhead and that should also include nature itself which too cries out for reconciliation and renewal. What are we, as God's stewards doing to reconcile not just with each other but also with the land? And how can we truly take care of each other without paying attention to our use of land? They are all interlinked....
The most eye popping quote for me and still not sure I agree but here we go:
"The demonic most often appears as a close shadow of the good, hard to distinguish until one looks closer. Inasmuch as our food system works against God's created order, poisoning bodies and landscapes, that system is demonic."
The most eye popping quote for me and still not sure I agree but here we go:
"The demonic most often appears as a close shadow of the good, hard to distinguish until one looks closer. Inasmuch as our food system works against God's created order, poisoning bodies and landscapes, that system is demonic."
September 22, 2016
Just finished the last two chapters. It's been months since I read the rest of the book, so I don't feel like I can comment confidently or specifically.
Generally, the book style and topic(s) is a cross between Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and Robert Farrar Capon. Probably others, but those are the people I've read who I see in this book.
Topics include: ecotheology, reconciliation with the land, theology of eating, and agriculture. They definitely are focused on the land as it relates to agriculture and eating, though they mention effects we have on the environment in general ways.
I liked the book a lot and think I will probably reread it in years to come or when I need material for something, but I think I came upon some section I wasn't a fan of, which is why I stalled months ago. But I glanced through and couldn't find what I didn't like about it, so I'm giving the book the benefits of the doubt and giving it 4 stars.
Generally, the book style and topic(s) is a cross between Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan and Robert Farrar Capon. Probably others, but those are the people I've read who I see in this book.
Topics include: ecotheology, reconciliation with the land, theology of eating, and agriculture. They definitely are focused on the land as it relates to agriculture and eating, though they mention effects we have on the environment in general ways.
I liked the book a lot and think I will probably reread it in years to come or when I need material for something, but I think I came upon some section I wasn't a fan of, which is why I stalled months ago. But I glanced through and couldn't find what I didn't like about it, so I'm giving the book the benefits of the doubt and giving it 4 stars.
September 13, 2013
This is a great little book, blending stories with theological reflection on our need to include the land in the ministry of reconciliation. This book glories in creation, mutual care of others and environmental stewardship. Among the insights I gained from this book, I appreciate the mindfulness Bahnson and Wirzba bring to food systems. Modern culture fills supermarket's full of food, removing the thought of growing conditions, planting, butchering, etc. from our eyes and thoughts. Bahnson and Wirzba help us pay attention to the life cycle of our food and re-sacramentalizes our engagement with the earth.
This is a profoundly Christian reflection on our relationship with the soil. I highly recommend it.
This is a profoundly Christian reflection on our relationship with the soil. I highly recommend it.
August 23, 2012
One of the most important books for Christians to read. Authors Norman Wirzba and Fred Bahnson sound a call to be reconciled to GOD's Creation - locating faithful care and cultivating of the earth in the context of the broader story of the Gospel which is GOD's work of reconciling all things to Himself. This book is a great mix of theology and narrative. It is a call to both a renewal of belief as well as practice. This book also reminds me alot of the great agrarian writer Wendell Berry. I highly recommend it and as an accompanying text Mr. Berry's essay 'Christianity and the Survival of Creation'.
January 29, 2016
Another in the Resources for Reconciliation series by InterVarsity Press, this chapter by chapter dialogue between a theologian and a practitioner delivers on the promise to engage both theologically and practically. Charging the 21st century human community with ecological amnesia, the authors encourage us to remember that we are made from the mud of the land and to recover our deep, intimate, and life-giving connection to the land. Each of us can take small steps in our own daily living to reverse the ways we are killing our planet and to live into the abundance that God has created in this good world.
February 17, 2013
Making Peace with the Land is an excellent introduction to the theology of food, community, and justice. Both authors have clear, accessible, writing styles, and extensive reference to stories of faithful communities. This book really challenged me to think more deeply and clearly about the way I purchase, share, and consume food. Great resource for small group and classroom settings.
February 21, 2015
See my long review at Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky.
August 22, 2016
Beautifully written and thoughtful reflections on faith, food, and caring for creation.
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