The many threats to the health of the environment pose an acute crisis for the twenty-first century. Global warming is the most urgent, but it is also symptomatic of many other distorted relationships between humans and the earth. Religious communities have a particular responsibility for using the resources of their traditions to shape values consonant with care for the earth and for acting upon those values. In Jewish and Christian traditions, and especially within Protestant denominations, the Bible is a primary, though certainly not the only, resource for the formation of values, ethos, and commitments. But to ask “what the Bible says” about ecology or even about nature is to encounter complex hermeneutical issues.
The world views, symbolic systems, and urgent questions of ancient Israel and early Christianity are vastly different from those of the modern world. Nor do the biblical texts represent a single, consistent perspective. Thus great care must be taken if one wishes to engage these texts in a conversation that can illumine the environmental concerns we might wish to raise. There will undoubtedly be surprises. Some of the texts will take one into very different ways of seeing and conceptualizing. One should not expect to find “answers.” But one will find important perspectives for forming an ethic of care for the earth and for challenging the assumptions of purely secular, technologized views of the earth and its creatures.
Instructor: Prof. Carol Newsom
Description: To understand the biblical mandate for care of the earth is only the beginning, however. Incorporating this transformed understanding into our personal lives and practices and into the communal life and witness of congregations is the next step. This course will draw upon and contribute to your contexts and experiences in the church and community with a particular focus on the practices and theology of food.
In the course of this class we will attempt to do several things:
(1) Study, exegetically and hermeneutically, key biblical texts and theological concepts
(2) Inform ourselves about the science, social, and political contexts of certain environmental issues
(3) Engage in and reflect upon personal practices that are both spiritually and environmentally transformative
(4) Participate in and, as appropriate, provide leadership for congregational or community based collective activities that bring together biblical and theological resources in the service of supporting “green” values.
Books and Articles
Jennifer Ayres, Good Food (Waco, TX: Baylor, 2014)
David G. Horrell et al., Greening Paul (Waco, TX: Baylor, 2010)
Norman Wirzba, Food & Faith (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Dianne D. Glave, Rooted in the Earth (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2010)
Articles are on e-reserves (reserves direct) and can be accessed through the Blackboard site.
Assignments: Detailed instructions for each assignment will be provided.
(1) An exegetical/hermeneutical analysis of a key biblical text (10-12 pages). (35%)
(2) A critical book review (5-7 pages). (20%)
(3) An engaged learning experience and write-up (approximately 10-15 pages, including supporting materials).(25%)
(4) Participation and Leadership: Since this class will involve significant discussion components, regular attendance and active participation are essential (more than 4 absences, excused or unexcused, will result in a grade penalty). Each student (or in some cases pairs of students) will present a short (5 minute) report on a site (preferably with images) or a “food for thought” presentation, or a “between the classroom and the church” discussion starter (5%).
Management reserves the right to make changes in the syllabus during the course of the term. These changes will not significantly affect the work load.
Week 1.1: First Session
- (a) General Introduction; Read: Wirzba, “Thinking Theologically About Food,” F&F,1-34
- Recommended: Ayres, Good Food, 1-35
- (b) In-class viewing of Ted Talk “How We Can Eat Our Landscapes”
- (c) Brainstorming Engaged Learning Options
Week 1.2: Is biblically based environmentalism an oxymoron?
- (a) The Challenge of Lynn White; Read: Lynn White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” pp. 31-42 in R. J. Berry, ed., The Care of Creation (e-reserves).
- (b) Brainstorming Engaged Learning Options
Week 2.1: “Dominion”–Good or Bad News for the Earth?
- (a) Hermeneutical issues; Read: Horrell et al., Greening Paul, 11-59
- Recommended: Conradie, “What on Earth is an Ecological Hermeneutics? in Horrell et al., Ecological Hermeneutics, 295-313 (e-reserves)
Week 2.2: “Dominion”–Good or Bad News for the Earth?
- (b) Exegetical and Hermeneutical Study of Genesis 1
- Work from study guide. Consult commentaries on Genesis 1 (Fretheim, NIB recommended, vol. I, 340-47 (e-reserves)
- Read: Horrell, “Human Dominion Over Creation?” The Bible & the Environment, 23-36 (e-reserves)
- Read: Rogerson, in Horrell et al., Ecological Hermeneutics, 21-31 (e-reserves)
- (c) Exegetical and Hermeneutical Study of Psalm 8
- Read: Keith Carley, “Psalm 8: An Apology for Domination,” in Habel, ed., Readings from the Perspective of the Earth, 111-24 (e-reserves)
- Read: James Limburg, “Who Cares for the Earth? Psalm Eight and the Environment,” in A. L. Hultgren, et al., eds. All Things New, 333-41 (e-reserves)
- Exegetical and Hermeneutical Study of Genesis 2-3
- (a) Genesis 2-3 and the “Fall” into Agriculture; Work from study guide
- Read: Newsom: “Common Ground: An Ecological Reading of Genesis 2-3,” in Habel and Wurst, The Earth Story in Genesis, 60-72 (e-reserves)
- Read: Smaje, “Genesis and J. Baird Callicott,” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture 2.2 (2008): 183-98 (e-journals)
Week 4.1: To Serve the Earth? Or, to Be a Curse upon the Earth?
- (b) Genesis 2-3, Agrarianism, and Permaculture
- Read: Hiebert, The Yahwist’s Landscape, 30-82
- (c) In-class viewing of Geoff Lawton video, Greening the Desert
- Rec: Essence of Permaculture, 2-9 (e-reserves); you may wish to browse permacultureprinciples.com
- Report: Permaculture Principles
Week 4.2: A Deeper View: Resilience Thinking
- Read: Walker and Salt, Resilience Thinking, 1-31 (e-reserves)
- Spend time at stockholmresilience.org
Week 5.1: Agriculture’s Fall; Agriculture’s Redemption
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 35-70
- Read: Ayres, 13-52
- Reports: Rashid Nuri and Truly Living Well; Oakleaf Mennonite Farm
Week 5.2: Agriculture’s Fall; Agriculture’s Redemption
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 71-109
- Read: Ayres, 75-116
- Reports: Love is Love Farm
- Global Growers
Week 6.1: Eating as Sin, Eating as Sacrament
- A biblical “menu” of meals: Gen 18:1-8; Exod 24:9-11; Deut 26:1-15; 2 Kings 4:7; Isa 24:4-12; 25:6-10; Job 42:11; Dan 1:5, 12-17; Matt 14:13-21 (//Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:5-15); Mt 26:17-30 (//Mk 14:12-26; Lk 22:7-39); Luke 14:14-20; John 21:1-14; 1 Cor 11:17-34; Rev 19:6-9
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 144-178
- Read: Ayres, 53-73
- Reports: Select a biblical text and explain why it is important for this course.
Week 6.2: Eating as Sin, Eating as Sacrament: Meat
- Gen 1:29-30; 9:1-4; Lev 17; Deut 12:15-16
- Read: Grumett and Muers,
- Theology on the Menu,17-36, 53-71 (e-reserves)
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 110-43
- Rec: Fast Food Nation, 149-90 (e-reserves)
- Rec: The Meatrix, selections from Food, Inc.
- Report: Will Harris
- February 25 Eating as Sin, Eating as Sacrament: Christian Vegetarianism
- Read: Lanagen, “A Christian Rationale for Vegetarianism,” Dialog 48 (2009): 147-57 (e-journal)
- Read: Grummet and Muers, Eating and Believing [selection; e-reserves]
- Texts: Deut 14:22-29; 15; 20:19-20; 23:20-26; 24: 6, 10-15, 17-22; 26
- Read: [what is best comm on Deut for this?–Weinfeld?]
- March 4 Agriculture, Ecojustice, and Community: “Product of Mexico” series
- Read: LA Times series [e-reserves and online]
Week 7.2: Field and Forest: (Re)claiming Agriculture and Nature in the African-American Experience
- Read: Glave, Rooted in the Earth, 71-141 (1-70 recommended)
- EXEGESIS PAPER DUE
Week 8.1: Spirituality of Sustainability: Taking Sabbath Seriously
- Read: Norman Wirzba, Living the Sabbath, 19-41, 142-53 (e-reserves) (?)
Week 8.2: Centennial Celebration
Week 9.1: Discussion with visiting Professor Angel Mendez
Week 9.2: Spirituality of Sustainability
- “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord”: Celebrating with Nature as Care of the Earth
- Biblical Texts for Special Focus: Psalms 19; 104; 148; Song of the three Jews (Additions to Daniel); Sirach 43
- Read: Horrell, B&E, 49-61 (e-reserves)
- Read: Fretheim, “Nature’s Praise of God,” God and World in the Old Testament, 249-68 (e-reserves)
Week 10.1: Wisdom theology and the vision of a sustainable world
- Biblical Texts: Proverbs 8; Job 38:1-42:6; Wisdom of Solomon 7
- Read: Dempsey and Butkus, “Sustainability: An Eco-Theological Analysis,” All Creation Is Groaning, 144-67 (e-reserves)
- Read: McKibben, The Comforting Whirlwind, 33-68 (e-reserves)
Week 10.2: Is Paul Green? Key texts
- Biblical Texts: Romans 8:19-23; Colossians 1:15-20
- Read: Horrell et al., Greening Paul, 63-115
- BOOK REVIEW DUE
Week 11.1: Is Paul Green? Hermeneutical Considerations
- Read: Horrell et al., Greening Paul, 117-87
Week 11.2: Is Paul Green? Ethical Extensions
- Read: Horrell et al., Greening Paul, 189-220
Week 12.1: The Eschatological Banquet
- Biblical Texts: Exod 24:9-11; Isa 11: 6-9; 24:4-12; 25:6-10; Rev. 19:6-9
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 211-34
- Read: Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, 10-21, 45-52
Week 12.2: Spiritual Practices: Mindful Eating and Saying Grace
- Read: Wirzba, F&F, 179-210
Week 13.1: Reports from Engaged Learning and a Practice of Sharing Food as an End of Term Celebration
Week 13.2: ENGAGED LEARNING PAPER DUE
This syllabus pertains to when the course was offered in 2015