{"id":7595,"date":"2023-01-10T16:45:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T16:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2023-01-10T16:45:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T16:45:14","slug":"agrarian-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/agrarian-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Agrarian Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Small Acts of Hope<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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If God loves this physical, here-and-now world and is continually at work renewing and transforming it, we should, too.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review by Elise Tegegne<\/em><\/p>

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One crisp Sunday in October, my husband, neighbor, and I all drove our small children away from our homes in central Indianapolis, to a farm about forty minutes outside of the city. Amid the pony rides, tennis ball catapults, and corn mazes, we discussed how our children have only vague notions of what a farm really is. \u201cThe other day I asked my son where food comes from,\u201d our neighbor was telling us. \u201cHis answer: \u2018The grocery store!\u2019\u201d I (who only have vague notions about farms myself) smiled at the punch line, but also sighed. In this Anthropocene age, our modern lives are increasingly disconnected from the land that sustains us.<\/p>

In Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land<\/em>, Norman Wirzba encourages readers to renew their connection with the land through agrarian ways of being. But such a lifestyle doesn\u2019t necessarily mean becoming a farmer. Indeed, \u201cthere is too much bad farming and too much injustice in the past.\u201d Being agrarian is to work together with others for the wellbeing of one\u2019s community \u201cby developing the practical skills that cultivate the material and social goods\u2014things like fertile soil, clean water, abundant green spaces, nutritious food, genuine health care, safe neighborhoods, beautiful homes, child and family support, youth empowerment, inclusion and honoring of the elderly, and worthwhile work\u2014that promote a thriving world.\u201d It is working towards the flourishing of all living things.<\/p>

Having grown up in a culture that often pitted environmentalism and faith against each other, I was particularly appreciative of how Wirzba unearths a philosophical and theological framework, revealing the inextricable link between the two. God\u2019s love for the material world is evident in creation; in the midst of creating birds and stars and oceans, God \u201cregularly pauses to note how good and fitting their being is.\u201d Throughout the Scriptures God reveals his desire to be present with the creatures he has made. God, Wirzba argues, is \u201cthe primordial and essential Agrarian\u2014the One who creates and sustains the world by planting, gardening, farming, and shepherding life.\u201d If God loves this physical, here-and-now world and is continually at work renewing and transforming it, we should, too.<\/p>

On a practical level, this looks like developing \u201cmaterial intelligence\u201d like home repair, baking, animal husbandry, and gardening. Recently, I experimented with the wild chemistry of sourdough bread. To make the starter, I mixed water and flour in a recycled peanut butter jar, fed \u201cmy pet,\u201d watched life bubble mysteriously. Wirzba would say such engagement with the life processes of creation joins our \u201clove to the divine love that creates and daily sustains a world that is good, beautiful, fragrant, pleasing, and delicious\u2026 and so communicate that this world and its creatures and things are worthy of our cherishing.\u201d\u00a0 Breadmaking\u2014and other tactile arts\u2014are expressions of love.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rather than distinct individuals inhabiting the sealed containers of our bodies, we are profoundly woven together with all that exists in an infinitely complex \u201cmeshwork.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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At its root, the agrarian perspective seeks to collapse the mind-body dualism that elevates the immaterial over the material. Wirzba traces the history of this artificial bifurcation from Socrates to its modern iterations, such as the desire to escape planet earth into space. Rather than distinct individuals inhabiting the sealed containers of our bodies, we are profoundly woven together with all that exists in an infinitely complex \u201cmeshwork.\u201d \u201cWho you are,\u201d Wirzba writes, \u201cis not reducible to yourself. You are a zoo of creaturely life.\u201d<\/p>

Not only are we enmeshed in all that exists, we are unable to survive without a myriad of creatures and life processes that we can hardly fathom. Wirzba calls readers to realize their \u201cembodied dependence on the land, its waters and water, and all the diverse microbial, plant, and animal life they support.\u201d We depend on creation, and creation depends on us. I am reminded of Robin Wall Kimmerer\u2019s refrain in Braiding Sweetgrass<\/em>: \u201cAll flourishing is mutual.\u201d Understanding one\u2019s place as deeply entangled in the lives of all that exists\u2014from microbes to bees to dandelions\u2014should lead one to become \u201ca companionable and caring presence wherever one is.\u201d<\/p>

All of this could\u2019ve left me feeling helpless, bur fortunately, Wirzba offers six agrarian exercises to cultivate: prayer, sight, descent, humility, generosity, and hope. Rather than view the earth as a mass of resources to be appropriated and controlled solely for anthropomorphic ends, Wirzba calls readers to view all of life as a sacred gift from God. Theologically speaking, \u201ca grateful heart is a conduit organ that continuously receives<\/em> the love of God and gives<\/em> it to others.\u201d To whom much has been given, much is required. For Wirzba, this involves nurturing, supporting, and caring for our communities, which include not just our human and nonhuman neighbors, but our workplaces, parks, and waterways.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Part of being humble is recognizing one\u2019s vulnerability.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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My favorite chapter was on humility, a deeply counter-cultural value. Part of being humble is recognizing one\u2019s vulnerability. Wirzba quotes Erinn Gilson who says, \u201cWhen we deny [our dependence] we also forfeit the occasions in which empathy, compassion, and solidarity can be cultivated as personal ideals.\u201d Having grown up in a culture where self-sufficiency is fiercely venerated, I have often been struck by the vibrant interdependence of my husband\u2019s home culture of Ethiopia. In general, Ethiopians feel free to pour themselves out in service to others, because they know others will care for them. Visitors to Ethiopia routinely remark on the gentleness of those they meet. Perhaps this tenderness is rooted in an awareness of each person\u2019s essential vulnerability, an awareness apparent in Christ\u2019s \u201cministry of touch.\u201d Wirzba observes that \u201cthe goal of a Chrsitian life is not to escape from our entangled embodiment but to practice the divine touch that cherishes our life together.\u201d<\/p>

Though Wirzba recognizes the brokenness of the world, he does not go far enough to acknowledge its extent. Wirzba holds that all of life is sacred, animated by God\u2019s breath, but I wonder about nefarious expressions of life, like viruses and hurricanes. Are these, too, expressions of divine love? A dash of Annie Dillard\u2019s unsentimental wonder at the fearsomeness of nature shown in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek<\/em> would be fitting. It is worth mentioning that many of the practices Wirzba encourages in the book\u2014growing vegetables, buying local, advocating for healthy agricultural lands\u2014are luxuries for many. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Participation in the \u201csacred power that creates, nourishes, heals, and reconciles life\u201d is how Wirzba defines hope. Though the farm my family and neighbors visited was not an accurate or full portrayal of agrarian life, it did provide a start. Traipsing through a field of fat pumpkins, our children were able to see how gourds grow from the earth. Perhaps pumpkin picking is one small way to participate in God\u2019s restoration of the world, a small act of hope.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Elise Tegegne<\/strong> lives in Indianapolis with her husband, toddler,\u00a0and piles of books. Her work appears or is forthcoming in\u00a0<\/em>Ekstasis, <\/em>Dappled Things, and\u00a0<\/em>Fathom, among others.\u00a0Connect with her at\u00a0<\/em>elisetegegne.com<\/em><\/a>, Facebook, or on Instagram @elisetegegne.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Agrarian Spirit<\/strong> was published by Notre Dame Press on August 1, 2022. <\/em>Fare Forward appreciates their provision of a copy to our reviewer. You can purchase your own copy from the publisher here<\/a>.<\/em>
<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If God loves this physical, here-and-now world and is continually at work renewing and transforming it, we should, too. 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