God’s call to participate in the abundant life of loving communion is given to us in the form of a meal invitation: “Take, eat (Matt. 26:26). “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). But how are we to gather together in holy meals when the food we consume is bound up in the earth’s degradation and the exploitation of neighbors near and far? This course will integrate a critical theology of food and agriculture with practical encounters with the emerging holistic food economy (e.g. urban organic agriculture, community food cooperatives, ecological garden design) in the Chicago area.
Required Course Texts
Berry, Wendell. The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry, Norman Wirzba, ed. Counterpoint, 2003 (ISBN: 9781593760076).
Davis, Ellen. Scripture, Culture, Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 2008 (ISBN: 9780521732239).
Kirschenmann, Frederick. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher. University of Kentucky Press, 2011 (ISBN: 9781582437521).
Shiva, Vandana. Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace. South End Press, 2005 (ISBN: 9780896087453).
Wirzba, Norman. Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating. Cambridge University Press, (ISBN: 9780521146241).
Recommended Course Text
Hemenway, Toby. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home -Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009 (ISBN: 9781603580298).