{"id":204,"date":"2010-11-29T21:07:47","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T21:07:47","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-01-29T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T00:53:08","slug":"the-earth-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Earth is coming alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"49710earth-640x480-3\"<\/a>
\n“The Earth is coming alive,” or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it:<\/span><\/p>\n

The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Davis has been providing the Hunger Program, the Agrarian Road Trippers, and many in the United States who have read her work (such as The Manna Economy<\/a>), a biblical basis for understanding the power dynamics and theological interpretation of the industrial food and farming system. This highly technified, energy-intensive system has all but replaced family-scale and organic farming, which of course had been the dominant food system not a century ago. In this new essay called, A Living Creature: A Biblical Perspective on Land Care and Use<\/strong>*, Dr. Davis says that when it comes to food,<\/p>\n

…I have been surprised to find that even those who do not habitually read the Bible care what it says. Perhaps there is a kind of practical theism that informs the thinking of those who deal daily with the essential means of life. Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In A Living Creature<\/strong>, which you should\u00a0download right now and savor<\/a><\/span>, Davis reflects on the relationship between how we eat and the horrific oil disaster the planet just experienced. The modern food system, which hungers for and consumes 10% of our petroleum, is practically connected to this tragedy, but also theologically —<\/p>\n

The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically<\/em>, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Without setting off the spoiler alert, here is one more image from the essay that sets the context for her insightful perspective:<\/p>\n

Having watched it bleed for months, we are better able to see that the earth is not a machine, nor is it a convenient repository of useful goods. Journalist Naomi Klein comments: ‘After 400 years of being declared dead, and in the middle of so much death, the Earth is coming alive.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Near the end, Davis asks this question:<\/p>\n

Can we even begin to imagine a faithfulness so fully realized that the fertile earth invites the Divine Farmer to walk upon it \u2013 as God once walked in Eden \u2013 in the path marked out by \u2018righteousness\u2019 (sustainability)?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can\u00a0download a PDF of “A Living Creature” here<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"437-20-oily-boots\"<\/a> UPDATE: The New Internationalist magazine just came in and has an article on the oil spill called –\u00a0 <\/span>That petrol emotion: BP\u2019s \u2018cleanup\u2019 of the Gulf of\u00a0Mexico<\/span><\/a> which highlights the rose-tinted media reporting. Even if you don’t get this fabulous magazine, you can subscribe to their blog here<\/a>. And did you know you can also get the RSS feed for Food and Faith. Just choose your reader here<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– – –<\/p>\n

And don’t miss the radio interview with Ellen Davis on Speaking of Faith<\/a> accompanied Wendell Berry’s poetry.<\/p>\n

* Originally published in The Bible in Transmission, Winter 2010 (Bible Society, UK), pp. 5-7, also available in the resources section of their website<\/a>. We are grateful to the editor and to Ellen Davis for allowing us to republish this essay. <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Earth is coming alive,” or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it: The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator.\r\n\r\nDr. Davis has been providing the Hunger Program, the Agrarian Road Trippers, and many in the United States who have read her work (such as The Manna Economy), a biblical basis for understanding the power dynamics and theological interpretation of the industrial food and farming system. This highly technified, energy-intensive system has all but replaced family-scale and organic farming, which of course had been the dominant food system not a century ago. In this new essay called, A Living Creature: A Biblical Perspective on Land Care and Use*, Dr. Davis says that when it comes to food,\r\n\r\n …I have been surprised to find that even those who do not habitually read the Bible care what it says. Perhaps there is a kind of practical theism that informs the thinking of those who deal daily with the essential means of life. Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture.\r\n\r\nIn A Living Creature, which you should download right now and savor, Davis reflects on the relationship between how we eat and the horrific oil disaster the planet just experienced. The modern food system, which hungers for and consumes 10% of our petroleum, is practically connected to this tragedy, but also theologically —\r\n\r\n The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological.\r\n\r\nWithout setting off the spoiler alert, here is one more image from the essay that sets the context for her insightful perspective:\r\n\r\n Having watched it bleed for months, we are better able to see that the earth is not a machine, nor is it a convenient repository of useful goods. Journalist Naomi Klein comments: ‘After 400 years of being declared dead, and in the middle of so much death, the Earth is coming alive.’\r\n\r\n\r\nThe wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological.\r\n\r\n“The Earth is coming alive,” or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it:\r\n\r\nThe earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator.\r\n\r\nDr. Davis has been providing the Hunger Program, the Agrarian Road Trippers, and many in the United States who have read her work (such as The Manna Economy), a biblical basis for understanding the power dynamics and theological interpretation of the industrial food and farming system. This highly technified, energy-intensive system has all but replaced family-scale and organic farming, which of course had been the dominant food system not a century ago. In this new essay called, A Living Creature: A Biblical Perspective on Land Care and Use*, Dr. Davis says that when it comes to food,\r\n\r\n …I have been surprised to find that even those who do not habitually read the Bible care what it says. Perhaps there is a kind of practical theism that informs the thinking of those who deal daily with the essential means of life. Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,182],"tags":[480,481,482,391,483,274,339,34,262,36,484,57,485],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-faith","tag-berry","tag-davis","tag-disaster","tag-earth","tag-ellen","tag-faith","tag-farm","tag-food","tag-oil","tag-presbyterian","tag-spill","tag-sustainable","tag-wendell"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Earth is coming alive - Food and Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Earth is coming alive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""The Earth is coming alive," or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it: The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator. Dr. Davis has been providing the Hunger Program, the Agrarian Road Trippers, and many in the United States who have read her work (such as The Manna Economy), a biblical basis for understanding the power dynamics and theological interpretation of the industrial food and farming system. This highly technified, energy-intensive system has all but replaced family-scale and organic farming, which of course had been the dominant food system not a century ago. In this new essay called, A Living Creature: A Biblical Perspective on Land Care and Use*, Dr. Davis says that when it comes to food, ...I have been surprised to find that even those who do not habitually read the Bible care what it says. Perhaps there is a kind of practical theism that informs the thinking of those who deal daily with the essential means of life. Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture. In A Living Creature, which you should download right now and savor, Davis reflects on the relationship between how we eat and the horrific oil disaster the planet just experienced. The modern food system, which hungers for and consumes 10% of our petroleum, is practically connected to this tragedy, but also theologically -- The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological. Without setting off the spoiler alert, here is one more image from the essay that sets the context for her insightful perspective: Having watched it bleed for months, we are better able to see that the earth is not a machine, nor is it a convenient repository of useful goods. Journalist Naomi Klein comments: 'After 400 years of being declared dead, and in the middle of so much death, the Earth is coming alive.' The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological. "The Earth is coming alive," or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it: The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator. 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Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Food and Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-29T21:07:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-30T00:53:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/\",\"name\":\"The Earth is coming alive - Food and Faith\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-29T21:07:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-30T00:53:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Earth is coming alive\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/\",\"name\":\"Food and Faith\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c7725d2162c8a26f77ab85e7894f944\",\"name\":\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/500e80d0517e36938c9dcc29cfa52930?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrew Kang Bartlett\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/author\/andrewkangbartlett\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Earth is coming alive - Food and Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/food-faith\/2010\/11\/29\/the-earth-alive\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Earth is coming alive","og_description":"\"The Earth is coming alive,\" or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it: The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator. 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Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities \u2013 all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture. In A Living Creature, which you should download right now and savor, Davis reflects on the relationship between how we eat and the horrific oil disaster the planet just experienced. The modern food system, which hungers for and consumes 10% of our petroleum, is practically connected to this tragedy, but also theologically -- The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological. 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