Rooted And Grounded [Hardcover]

For many of us, the connection between the ecological crisis and humanity's detachment from the land is becoming increasingly clear. In biblical terms, adam (humanity) has severed itself from the adamah (soil), and we (creation) are reaping the consequences. This collection of essays, and the conference from which it took shape, calls the church to root itself more deeply in the agrarian biblical text and ecclesial tradition in order to remember and freshly imagine ways of living on and with the land that are restorative, reconciling, and faithful to the triune God's invitation to new life in Christ. When we listen attentively to and patiently learn from the biblical text, church history, and theology, the land itself can become a conversation partner, and we are summoned to recognize that the gospel is reserved not simply for humanity, but for the whole of creation. If Christian faith is about being grounded in the life of God, this book helps us see that God's own life has from the beginning been grounded in the land as the place where divine love is made manifest and goes to work. Rooted and Grounded opens multiple vistas for a fresh revisioning of biblical exegesis and theological reflection. In doing so it helps us make the essential connections that are foundational for the healing of human and land communities. It deserves a wide readership. --Norman Wirzba, Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Agrarian Studies, Duke Divinity School Nowhere have I read a more substantive and informative collection of essays, all written for this volume, that drives home the importance of the land in theological reflection and ethical practice. Rooted and Grounded inspires us to reconnect with the land from which we came and to which we shall return. --William P. Brown, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary Christians in industrialized societies are a long way from accounting for our estrangement from the land on which hul#‘