Wendell Berry and Religion

by Shuman, Joel James; Owens, L. Roger

• ISBN13: 9780813125558
• ISBN10: 0813125553
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

Farmer, poet, essayist, and environmental writer Wendell Berry is acclaimed for his ideas regarding the values inherent in an agricultural society. Place, community, good work, and simple pleasures are but a few of the values that form the bedrock of Berry's thought. While the notion of reverence is central to Berry, he is not widely known as a religious writer. However, the moral underpinnings of his work are rooted in Christian tradition, articulating the tenet that faith and stewardship of the land are not mutually exclusive. InWendell Berry and Religion, editors Joel J. Shuman and L. Roger Owens probe the moral and spiritual implications of Berry's work. Chief among them are the notions that the earth is God's provisional gift to mankind and that studying how we engage material creation reflects important truths. This collection reveals deep, thoughtful, and provocative conversations within Berry's writings, illuminating the theological inspirations inherent in his work.

Author Biography

Joel J. Shuman, associate professor and chair of the department of theology at King’s College, is the author of several books.

 

L. Roger Owens earned his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Duke University and is copastor at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Placing God in the Work of Wendell Berry	p. 1
Good Work
What Would a Christian University Look Like? Some Tentative Answers Inspired by Wendell Berry	p. 15
Mr. Berry Goes to Medical School: Notes toward Unspecializing a Healing Art	p. 33
Of the Good That Has Been Possible in This World: Lawyering in Port William	p. 50
Proper Work: Wendell Berry and the Practice of Ministry	p. 71
Holy Living
The Pill Is LikeàDDT? An Agrarian Perspective on Pharmaceutical Birth Control	p. 85
The Salvation of the City: Defiant Gardens in the Great Northern Feedlot	p. 98
"And the Land I Will Remember": Reading the Bible through Agrarian Eyes	p. 115
Landscapes of Flesh: On Finding More Faithful Metaphors for the Body and Its Goods	p. 131
The Dark Night of the Soil: An Agrarian Approach to Mystical Life	p. 148
Imagination
"The Membership Includes the Dead": Wendell Berry's Port William Membership as Communio Sanctorum	p. 173
Embedded Hopefulness: Wendell Berry and Saint Thomas Aquinas on Christian Hope	p. 190
Alien Landscapes: Christianity and Inevitable Violence	p. 209
Let the Place Judge: Healing the Division between Theology and Practice	p. 221
Moving Forward
Democracy, America, and the Church: Inviting Wendell Berry into the Discussion	p. 239
List of Contributors	p. 261
Index	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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