Podcast appearances and mentions of norman wirzba

This lecture is entitled AI Ethics, Human Flourishing, and Trust in Health Care. It was presented by Thomas Pfau of Duke University, Michael Pencina of Duke University, Matthew Elmore of Duke AI Health, and Norman Wirzba of Duke University on June 26, 2024, at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham, NC.

For this deeply philosophical conversation, I am joined by Norman Wirzba as we discuss his new book Love's Braided Dance and explore the concept of hope in our modern crisis-filled world. Wirzba explains that many young people view hope with suspicion, often because modern culture promotes shallow optimism over genuine hope. He argues that true hope isn't passive waiting but active participation in loving engagement with others and the world. Wirzba contrasts our modern society's obsession with control, acceleration, and technological solutions with the need for deeper resonance, meaningful connections, and the willingness to embrace friction in relationships. He emphasizes that hope emerges through community and solidarity rather than individual heroism, and requires practices of forgiveness, listening, and Sabbath rest to counteract our culture's demands for constant productivity and consumption. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube   Norman Wirzba is a distinguished professor at Duke University who specializes in theology, philosophy, and environmental ethics. His interdisciplinary work explores the intersections of faith, ecology, and community life, with particular emphasis on how religious traditions can inform sustainable ways of living. Wirzba is known for his thoughtful examination of prayer, hope, and humanity's relationship with the natural world. He has authored numerous books, including Agrarian Spirit and Love's Braided Dance, which examines hope in times of crisis. His scholarship frequently challenges modern assumptions about progress, consumption, and individualism while offering alternative visions rooted in attentiveness, community, and care for creation. Previous Episodes with Dr. Wirzba Farm to Table Theology Way of Love Theology Beer Camp | St. Paul, MN | October 16-18, 2025 3 Days of Craft Nerdiness with 50+ Theologians & God-Pods and 600 new friends. ONLINE CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT: The Many Faces of Christ Today The question Jesus asked his disciples still resonates today: "Who do you say that I am?" Join our transformative 5-week online learning community as we explore a rich tapestry of contemporary Christologies. Experience how diverse theological voices create a compelling vision of Jesus Christ for today's world. Expand your spiritual horizons. Challenge your assumptions. Enrich your faith. As always, the class is donation-based (including 0), so head over to ManyFacesOfChrist.com for more details and to sign up! _____________________ Hang with 40+ Scholars & Podcasts and 600 people at Theology Beer Camp 2025 (Oct. 16-18) in St. Paul, MN. This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 80,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 45 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hear from the volunteers serving an average of 1,500 meals a day at the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow and explore the significance of langar in the Sikh and wider community. Mona Siddiqui and the panel explore the role food plays in religion. Do all religious traditions have the imperative to feed the hungry? Is food the route to the soul? And, is sharing food the best way for religions to communicate beliefs?Mona is joined by: Chef Romy Gill, a prominent figure in the culinary world, known for her expertise in Indian cuisine. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire 2016 for services to the hospitality industry. Romy grew up in a Sikh Punjabi family and the tradition of sewa is close to her heart Norman Wirzba, is Professor of Theology and Ecology at Duke University Divinity School. His work focuses on religion, ecology and agrarianism. Norman is the author of Way of Love, Food and Faith.Moshe Basson, the executive Chef and owner of The Eucalyptus restaurant in Jerusalem and Author of The Eucalyptus Cookbook. He specialises in Levantine, Arab, and Jewish cuisine, and is known for his use of biblical ingredients.Producer: Alexa Good Assistant Producer: Linda Walker Editor: Tim Pemberton

This is an audio version of an essay on my substack, Process This. In it, I explore the tension between contemplation and fascination in the digital age, particularly regarding smartphone use. Inspired by my son's school essay on phone-free schools, I took up a Lenten social media fast. Learning how deeply our digital habits have affected our capacity for genuine connection has been revelatory. Inspired by recent conversations with philosophers Kevin Hart and Norman Wirzba, I develop a distinction between contemplation and fascination. Through their attention-fragmenting design, smartphones ultimately create hollow connections that diminish our ability to be present with others and ourselves. Rather than advocating for complete technological rejection, I think about intentionally cultivating contemplative practices as a counterbalance to digital habituation, suggesting that creating space for more profound attention may be essential to human freedom in our increasingly digitized world. I hope you enjoy it and consider supporting my work by joining 80k+ other people on Process This. If you want to read or watch the essay, you will find it here on SubStack. Related Resources Norman Wirzba Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis (Book) This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World (Book) “Attention and Responsibility: The Work of Prayer” in The Phenomenology of Prayer (Article) Farm to Table Theology (HBC Podcast) The Way of Love (HBC Podcast) Kevin Hart Contemplation: The Movements of the Soul (Book) Lands of Likeness: For a Poetics of Contemplation (Book) Hartmut Rosa Being at Home in the World (Podcast) Resonance In An Accelerated Age (Podcast) Related books by Rosa:The Uncontrollability of the World , Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World, and his newest book, Democracy Needs Religion. Theology Beer Camp | St. Paul, MN | October 16-18, 2025 3 Days of Craft Nerdiness with 50+ Theologians & God-Pods and 600 new friends. A Five-Week Online Lenten Class w/ John Dominic Crossan Join us for a transformative 5-week Lenten journey on "Paul the Pharisee: Faith and Politics in a Divided World."This course examines the Apostle Paul as a Pharisee deeply engaged with the turbulent political and religious landscape of his time. For details and to sign-up for any donation, including 0, head over here. _____________________ Hang with 40+ Scholars & Podcasts and 600 people at Theology Beer Camp 2025 (Oct. 16-18) in St. Paul, MN. This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 80,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 45 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Norman Wirzba is a professor of theology and ecology at Duke University Divinity School and a pioneer of scholarly work on religion, philosophy, ecology, and agrarianism. Book link: https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300272659/loves-braided-dance/ ---Become part of the Hermitix community: Hermitix Twitter - ⁠⁠ / hermitixpodcast⁠⁠ Support Hermitix: Patreon - ⁠⁠ patreon.com/hermitix⁠⁠ Donations: - ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpod⁠⁠ Hermitix Merchandise - ⁠⁠http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2⁠⁠ Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLK Ethereum Donation Address: 0x31e2a4a31B8563B8d238eC086daE9B75a00D9E74

In this episode we're joined by Professor Norman, who is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology & Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University and the author of Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis (published by Yale University Press). In our conversation we talk about how hope is an active embodiment of love, that the loveliness of the world is what inspires hopefulness, how hope should not be confused with optimism, the way that improper conceptions of hope perpetuate bystander syndrome and practical nihilism, and true hope is something that “happens in the dark.” Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Josh Carroll, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Dr. Grace Emmett. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to “have hope,” especially during challenging times? Is it something we can possess, like a talisman to ward off despair? No, argues Norman Wirzba, distinguished professor of Christian theology at Duke and author of the new book Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. Instead, “hope” is a verb—an action we have to do. On this episode Wirzba explains how he manages to hope, even in the face of some of our most intractable problems—including war, migration, and the climate crisis. For further reading:  Oscar Romero on politics and Christian love Vincent Miller on Pope Francis's ecological hope Eric Miller on the fiction of Wendell Berry

Philip welcome Norman Wirzba, back to The Deep Dive for his third appearance. He's back to discuss his latest book Love's Braided Dance. In their conversation, they discuss how love factors into our ability to solve pressing problems and build richer The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings. Philip's Drop: Vichy France: Old Guard and New Guard 1940 – 1944 – Robert O. Paxton (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/vichy-france/9780231124690) Cobra (Amazon Prime) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10062652/) Norman's Drop: Playground – Richard Powers (https://www.richardpowers.net/playground/) Van der Walk (Amazon Prime/PBS Masterpiece) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9128874/) Special Guest: Norman Wirzba.

Hope has sometimes been made out to be something we possess, something we hold like a shield to protect us from pain. But Norman wants to recast hope as something we do, and most importantly, as something that is animated by love. He talks through some of the different textures of hope to bring out more of its richness so that it might better form us through times of crisis. Theme song and credits music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Other music in this episode by Simon Stevens  courtesy of Shutterstock, Inc. BioLogos is searching for our next President. Is it you? 

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Dr. Norman Wirzba about his new book, Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis. It's a conversation about the nature of hope, especially in the midst of darkness, where no hope can seem to be found, and how learning to love moves us forward. Among the topics we discuss: Why asking "what gives you hope?" may not be the best question and why "what do you love" is a better one Why it is so important that hope reckons with evil in its most disheartening forms Where joy might be found in the midst of the brokenness of the world How we can fight the impulse of paralysis or exhaustion The importance of recognizing our interdependence within creation What it means to say that love is "improvisational" and a "dance" Get the book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272659/loves-braided-dance/

Problem-solving the crises of the modern world is often characterized by an economy and architecture of exploitation and instrumentalization, viewing relationships as transactional, efficient, and calculative. But this sort of thinking leaves a remainder of emptiness.Finding hope in a time of crises requires a more human work of covenant and commitment. Based in agrarian principles of stability, place, connection, dependence, interwoven relatedness, and a rooted economy, we can find hope in “Love's Braided Dance” of telling the truth, keeping our promises, showing mercy, and bearing with one another.In this episode, Evan Rosa welcomes Norman Wirzba, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School, to discuss his recent book Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis.Together they discuss love and hope through the agrarian principles that acknowledge our physiology and materiality; how the crises of the moment boil down to one factor: whether young people want to have kids of their own; God's love as erotic and how that impacts our sense of self-worth; the “sympathetic attunement” that comes from being loved by a community, a place, and a land; transactional versus covenantal relationships; the meaning of giving and receiving forgiveness in an economy of mercy; and finally the difficult truth that transformation or moral perfection can never replace reconciliation.About Norman WirzbaNorman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School, as well as director of research at Duke University's Office of Climate and Sustainability. His books include Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land;This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World; and Food & Faith.Listen to Norman Wirzba on Food & Faith in Episode 49: "God's Love Made Delicious"Show NotesNorman Wirzba, Love's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of CrisisHow the crises of the moment boil down to one expression: whether young people want to have kids of their own.How Norman Wirzba became friends with Wendell BerryWendell Berry, The Unsettling of America“Love's Braided Dance” from “In Rain”, a poem by Wendell Berry“You shouldn't forget the land, and you shouldn't forget your grandfather.”Return to agricultural practicesSacred gifts“An agricultural life can afford doesn't guarantee, I think, but it affords the opportunity for you to really handle the fundamentals of life, air, water, soil, plant, tactile  connection that has to, at the same time, be  a practical connection, which means you have to to bring into your handling of things the attempt to understand what you're handling.”AnonymityNorman Wirzba reads Wendell Berry's “In Rain”Hyperconnectivity and the meaning of being “braided together”Love as Erotic Hope—”the first of God's love is an erotic love, which is an outbound love that wants  something other than God to be and to  flourish. And that outbound movement is generated by God's desire for For others to be beautiful, to be good, and I think that's the basis of our lives, right?”Audre Lorde and patriarchyAffirming the goodness of ourselves and the world as created and loved by GodHow the pornographic gaze distorts the meaning of erotic loveDancing as a metaphor for God's erotic loveDeep sympathy and anticipation, and the improvisational movement of danceWoodworking: taking time and negotiation“Sympathetic attunement” and improvisationManaging the unpredictable nature of our worldRevelation of who you are and who the other is—it's hard to reveal ourselves to each otherHonesty and depth that is missing from relationshipsLearning the skill of self-revealingBelonging and Robin Wall Kimmerer's sense that a people could be “loved by the land”Physiological, material reality of our dependence on each other, from womb to tomb“The illusion that we could ever be alone or stand alone or survive alone is so dishonest about our living.”Denying our needs, acknowledging our needs, and inhabiting trust to work through struggle together“It's not about solutions.”“Some of the needs  are profound and deep and they take time and they are  never fully resolved. But it's this experience of knowing that you're not alone, that you're in a context where you are going to be cared for, you'll be nurtured, and you'll be forgiven when you make mistakes means that you can carry on together. And that's often enough.”Transactional vs covenantal approach to relationshipsGranting forgiveness and receiving forgivenessTransformation is not a replacement for reconciliationRather than denying wrongdoing or seeking to eliminate it, focusing on a renewed effort to be merciful with each other.Economy and architecture“So how is the land supposed to love you back if it has in fact been turned into a toxic dumping zone?”“Think about how much fear is in our architecture.”Building was vernacular—people were involved in the development of physical structuresJ. R. R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers: Ents vs Saruman, natural agrarianism vs technological dominationJoy Clarkson, You Are a TreeRooted economy“Is anything worthy of our care?”When a parent chooses a phone and loses a moment of presence with children“Go to some one and tell them, ‘I want to try to be better at being in the presence of those around me.'”Be deliberateProduction NotesThis podcast featured Norman WirzbaEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaProduction Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Kacie Barrett, Emily Brookfield, and Zoë HalabanA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

In this archive episode Forrest and James talk to Norman Wirzba, professor and author of a book called Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land. In this book, Dr. Wirzba makes the case for a kind of spirituality that is grounded in deep awareness of creation. Among other things, this sort of humble, earthy spirituality that he encourages us to practice stands against the illusion of certainty and control that has made much of the church seem increasingly irrelevant these days—especially to younger generations.You can also watch the video of this conversation by going to YouTube.com/@circlewood. Or navigate first to the general YouTube site and search for us using our handle: @Circlewood Guest: Dr. Norman Wirzba – Duke Divinity Schoolo   Author of Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Lando   Editor of The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry Mentions:Circlewood Village in development The term “agrarian” The interconnectedness of life on Earth Earthkeepers' interview – WhatYour Food Ate, with authors Montgomery and Biklé Humans as soil, animated by the breath of God in Genesis 2:7Earthkeepers' interview – Farming Heals Us: Yeawa Asabi and Ray Williams of BlackFarmers Collective and Yes FarmInjustice for migrant farmworkers “Dark night of the soul” God inviting mankind to work in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:4-17God delighting in creation in Genesis 1:31 – 2:3The fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-26  Keywords: agrarian, interconnection, microbiome, soil, body, political, economic, social, food, agriculture, coercive labor, environmental justice, social justice, spirituality, descent, humility, prayer, generosity, embodiment, mystery, hope Find us on our website: Earthkeepers Support the Earthkeepers podcast Check out the Ecological Disciple

This bonus episode features highlights from conversations that aired during the fourth season of Callings. In these clips, our guests offer advice for today's students and for anyone who teaches or mentors young adults. Listen to this compilation of insightful and interesting advice from Parker Palmer, Norman Wirzba, Katharine Hayhoe, Shirley Hoogstra, Miroslav Volf, Sarah Bassin, Anantanand Rambachan, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Geoffrey Bateman, and Christi Belcourt.

This is a vacay replay! Our fam was out on one last getaway of the summer, so we picked one of our favorites (also happens to be a fan favorite!) to replay this week. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! It's hard to describe how I felt reading Norman Wirzba‘s book, This Sacred … Continue reading Episode 260 – Norman Wirzba (re-play!)

It’s hard to describe how I felt reading Norman Wirzba‘s book, This Sacred Life. He offers a thick theological insight on how we live in the world and some opportunities for growing into how we could not only shape the world around us, but be shaped by it. As people, sometimes it’s easy to believe … Continue reading Ep. 237 – Norman Wirzba

Norman Wirzba writes that our homes and workplaces should nurture and celebrate life.

This week we highlight a past episode of our Faith and Imagination Podcast. Norman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke Divinity School. The author of several books, he's also the director of a multi-year, Henry Luce Foundation-funded project entitled …

Norman Wirzba's research, writing, and teaching explore the overlap between theology and ecology, working to address major environmental issues such as climate crisis and food insecurity. In this conversation, we discuss aspects of agrarian living, freedom and fidelity, and the importance of kinesthetic learning. His emphasis on our relationship to the land as a relationship with others—as an expression of love—reminds us of the communal callings in every aspect of our lives. Vocation is a reflection of our rootedness in place and commitment to others, calling us to be agents of repair in the world. 

What God most wants for us, says Duke Divinity professor Norman Wirzba, is that we be flourishing together, that we live in communion, and that in our sharing of life with each other, we can experience God's love. Norman shares why nurturing the world changes our lens from consumer to carer, and why asking, “How do we build more beauty in the world?” is a question most worthy of our attention.   Quotes “How can we build more beauty in this world? How can we cultivate goodness in our neighborhoods? Because when we have that goodness and that beauty, our lives are so much better. We can experience the joy that God has always wanted for creatures.” - Norman Wirzba “God is constantly active, nurturing and feeding and protecting and celebrating a beautiful world, a good world. And we should learn to do the same thing.” - Norman Wirzba   Guest's Links Norman Wirzba's Instagram Norman Wirzba's Facebook Norman Wirzba's Twitter Norman Wirzba's Website   Resources Mentioned in This Episode Duke Divinity School   Connect with Sally Lloyd-Jones Jesus Storybook Bible Facebook Jesus Storybook Bible Instagram  Sally's website Sally's Facebook Sally's Instagram   *Episode produced by Four Eyes Media*  

God loves soil, says the writer Norman Wirzba. "God is the first, best, and essential gardener of the world." Humankind has long assumed that what is good for us is also good for the world; but where pride and greed are the primary measures of what is good, this assumption leads to disaster. What happens when we put soil and soul together, and live “by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. ... Making the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. Co-operating in its processes, and yielding to its limits.” [Wendell Berry]? A talk for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 16 July 2023. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠.

Welcome to More Christ. We seek to bring some of the world's most interesting and insightful guests to discuss life's central and abiding questions. In this ninety third episode in a series of discussions, I'm joined by Dr Norman Wirzba. Norman Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In particular, his research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life. He is currently the director of a multi-year, Henry Luce-Foundation-funded projected entitled “Facing the Anthropocene.” In this project, housed at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics, he is working with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment. Professor Wirzba has published several books, including Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land, The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight, Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (in its 2nd Edition), and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land: God's Call to Reconcile with Creation. He also has edited several books, including The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Please see: Amazon.co.uk: Norman Wirzba: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle Norman Wirzba

Co-hosts, Brian & Jennifer, recap our fall series on Churchland stewardship, episodes 20-21 with Norman Wirzba, Ian McSweeney, Canon Abbott Bailey, and Bishop Megan Traquair. 

Philip spends time with Norman Wirzba, author of the new book The Agrarian Spirit. In their conversation Philip and Norman explore the philosophical tenants of the agrarian spirit as a movement designed to confront the myriad and overlapping challenges of modernity. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings. Philip's Drop: The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists – Eleanor D. Payson (https://eleanorpayson.com/eleanors-books/the-wizard-of-oz-and-other-narcissists/) Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents – Lindsay C. Gibson (http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/books.html) Norman's Drop: Don't Hesitate – Mary Oliver (http://www.wordslikethis.com.au/dont-hesitate/) Special Guest: Norman Wirzba.

In this episode Forrest and James talk to Norman Wirzba, professor and author of a book called Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land. In this book, Dr. Wirzba makes the case for a kind of spirituality that is grounded in deep awareness of creation. Among other things, this sort of humble, earthy spirituality that he encourages us to practice stands against the illusion of certainty and control that has made much of the church seem increasingly irrelevant these days—especially to younger generations.Got a question for our upcoming Q&A episode? Go to https://www.circlewood.online/earthkeepers to leave a voicemail, or send an email to earthkeepers@circlewood.online Guest: Dr. Norman Wirzba – Duke Divinity Schoolo   Author of Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land o   Editor of The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry Mentions: Circlewood Village in development The term “agrarian” The interconnectedness of life on Earth Earthkeepers' interview – WhatYour Food Ate, with authors Montgomery and Biklé Humans as soil, animated by the breath of God in Genesis 2:7 Earthkeepers' interview – Farming Heals Us: Yeawa Asabi and Ray Williams of BlackFarmers Collective and Yes Farm Injustice for migrant farmworkers “Dark night of the soul” God inviting mankind to work in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:4-17 God delighting in creation in Genesis 1:31 – 2:3 The fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-26  Keywords: agrarian, interconnection, microbiome, soil, body, political, economic, social, food, agriculture, coercive labor, environmental justice, social justice, spirituality, descent, humility, prayer, generosity, embodiment, mystery, hope Circlewood.Donate. Join the Stand.

Norman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School and senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. He is the author and editor of sixteen books, including his latest, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land

Food and meals are hidden in plain sight throughout the Bible, providing a background context for Christian spirituality and flourishing. Matt Croasmun joins me on the podcast today to talk about his new book co-authored with Miroslav Volf, The Hunger for Home: Food and Meals in the Gospel of Luke. For them, a meal is a site of nourishing mutual encounter. It's this definition of a meal that makes that riddle work I think. It's also incredibly illuminating (and even delightfully surprising, really) to consider how that nourishing mutual encounter—a meal—provide a context that spans thousands of years and the whole of human history from creation to fall to redemption. It can all be understood as a site of nourishing mutual encounter with God, family, neighbor, world—everything. From the fruitful multiplying of living creatures to the forbidden fruit—from the passover seder, manna from heaven, water from the rocks, and feasts in the fields—to the Lord's table prepared before our enemies, turning water into wine, multiplying loaves and fish—from the Last Supper before the Crucifixion, and the final wedding supper of the Lamb. It's all a meal that we hunger for always; it's a meal that wherever we are, we're still home.This episode was made possible in part by the generous support of the Tyndale House Foundation. For more information, visit tyndale.foundation.AboutMatt Croasmun (PhD, Yale University) is Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He is the co-author, with Miroslav Volf, of For the Life of the World and The Hunger for Home and directs the Yale Life Worth Living Initiative. Follow him on Twitter @MattCroasmun.Show NotesBuy the book: The Hunger for Home: Food and Meals in the Gospel of Luke (Enter 17FALL22 for 20% off + Free Shipping)What is home?What is hunger?Jesus fasting in the wilderness: "One does not live by bread alone..."The human needs bread that is not only bread.Word and world is one thing. Allow your bread to become an encounter with the creator of all good things.Life, staying sustained, and feastingMaterial life, sustained by the life of the LordFalse choice: word or bread. It's actually one thing, issuing from the mouth of the Lord.Sinners at the Table: "The only kind of meals are meals among sinners.""Sinners all."Jesus dines with sinners because he's a doctor who comes to heal sinners. We dine with sinners because we're all patients of that doctor.Rich and Poor at the TableThe eschatological feastThe Rich Man and LazarusThe Unjust Steward (or, The Dishonest Manager)"We're looking for homes to be invited into. And it may be the poor who have these homes."MutualityLeveraging houses and the wealth they represent for entry into homes.The Last Supper / Eucharist"Made known in the breaking of bread"The Road to Emmaus: "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."Jesus as the ultimate Bible Study Leader: "The best bible study ever."The eucharist is making sense later.Recognition: It wasn't the bible study with Jesus on the road. It was the meal.Norman Wirzba, Food & Faith"Made known in the breaking of bread"Production NotesThis podcast featured Matt CroasmunEdited and Produced by Evan RosaHosted by Evan RosaSpecial thanks to David Aycock and Baylor University PressA Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/aboutSupport For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

This is a book review of a new book by Norman Wirzba: Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community and the Land (published August 1, 2022)

In this episode, Eric and Sara Joy talk with Pastor Cynthia Wallace about how the Oasis Farm and Fishery was implemented and is operating out of Bible Center Church in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Originally begun as an educational initiative to help families learn how to eat and cook healthier, the program has evolved into growing food for the local community. This work began as the church gained a deeper understanding of the food insecurity, or lack of access to food, that so many of the local neighborhood residents are facing. Pastor Cynthia reminds us that listening to God and your neighbors is a vital part of recognizing what needs the local church is called to fulfill in the community. The process can be slow and full of small steps, but God has been faithful to expand the work of Bible Center Church in a well-timed and manageable way. The Oasis Farm and Fishery has been in operation for almost nine years, expanding to include gardening classes, cooking classes, farm stands, and vegetable box delivery in the community.Eric and Sara Joy also speak with a couple of field guides who provide professional research expertise to expand upon the social and economic implications of food insecurity in our communities. Both Dr. Stephanie Boddie of Baylor University and Dr. Norman Wirzba of Duke University help us better understand the extent of how poor access to healthy food in our communities is detrimental to our well-being and contrary to the way God designed us to eat and enjoy food. Each of these field guides provides inspiring challenges to churches to be a light of the Gospel in their communities through growing and enjoying food together.Episode ContributorsCynthia Wallace is the Executive Pastor of Bible Center Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is also the Executive Director of the Oasis Project, which includes the Oasis Farm and Fishery. Dr. Stephanie Clintonia Boddie is Assistant Professor of Church and Community Ministries with affiliations at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, the George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and the School of Education at Baylor University. Boddie is also a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society and an alumni fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program. Her research interests include Congregation-Based Social Surveys, Trends in Faith-Based Initiatives, and Social Entrepreneurial Approaches to Disparities in Wealth, Health, and Food Insecurity. She teaches a course entitled: Black Churches: Past, Present, and Future.Dr. Norman Wirzba is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University. His research and teaching interests are at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He has written several books including The Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity; Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating; This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World; and Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (forthcoming).Access more Show Notes with pictures and resources related to this episode. Sign up for the free online Community Forum on June 28, 2022 to discuss this episode with Eric, Sara Joy, and Chris and other podcast listeners. Register today!More information about this podcast and helpful church and urbanism resources can be found on The Embedded Church website.Related ResourcesOasis Farm and FisheryBible Center ChurchHope in Homewood – article about the  Everyday Cafe run by Bible Center ChurchBlack Church Food Security NetworkAgrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (forthcoming) by Norman WirzbaFood and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman WirzbaThis Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World by Norman WirzbaThe Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity by Norman WirzbaWhat's Not to Like: All the Good Things that Happen in School Gardens (Tricia Elisara's Blog)Find these Key Terms on The Embedded Church website:- Embodiment- Food Desert- Hospitality- Localism- ZoningShow CreditsHosted and Produced by Eric O. Jacobsen and Sara Joy ProppeEdited by Adam Higgins | Odd Dad Out Voice ProductionsTheme Music by Jacob ShafferArtwork by Lance Kagey | Rotator Creative

In this finale of the inaugural season of The Ridley Institute Podcast, Sam talks with Norman Wirzba, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. Drawing on themes from Wirzba's forthcoming book, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022), Sam and Norman explore how the cultivation of an "agrarian" vision of core Christian spiritual practices — including, but not limited to, prayer and perception — can guide the heart of the Christian into ever-greater alignment with the heart of God.

In this finale of the inaugural season of The Ridley Institute Podcast, Sam talks with Norman Wirzba, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. Drawing on themes from Wirzba's forthcoming book, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022), Sam and Norman explore how the cultivation of an "agrarian" vision of core Christian spiritual practices — including, but not limited to, prayer and perception — can guide the heart of the Christian into ever-greater alignment with the heart of God.

Prof. Norman Wirzba is a leading figure in the field of fields. He cares about farming, food, our connected lives and the justice that is inherent in living at peace with the land. Along with frequent collaborators such as Wendell Berry, Robert MacFarlane and others, Norman thinks deeply about the Anthropocene - our current age of significant human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems. Norman is based at Duke University where he is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and the Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. His latest book is "This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World".You can find out more about Norman and his work HERE.We discuss friend of the show Steve Bell in the episode and play Steve's song "In Praise of Decay" from the album Wouldn't You Like To Know.Has anything we make been interesting, useful or fruitful for you? You can support us by becoming a Fellow Traveller on our Patreon page HERE.

In this conversation, Philip spends time with scholar and commons activist David Bollier. They discuss his latest book The Commoner's Catalog for Changemaking and what are the ways activist and organizer can continue to strengthen the commons as an alternative to late stage extractive capitalism. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings. Philip's Drop: The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community and The Land – Edited by Norman Wirzba https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/674983/the-essential-agrarian-reader-by-norman-wirzba/ David's Drop: How Forests Think – Eduardo Kohn https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520276116/how-forests-think Special Guest: David Bollier.

This is the keynote interview for AllCreation's Spring 2022 edition, "Dominionism: Exploring religious relationships with other life," guest edited by Rev. Dr. Dan De Leon. Dan speaks here with Dr. Norman Wirzba about Genesis 1:26, the context it was written in, and how knowing all that changes the modern Christian perspective. "And God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.'" (Genesis 1:26)About Dr. WirzbaDr. Norman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke Divinity School. Dr. Wirzba's research and teaching interests are at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. His research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life. He is currently the director of a multi-year, projected entitled “Facing the Anthropocene” where he works with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment. Visit NormanWirzba.com for more. Written WorksDr. Wirzba has published and edited numerous books, the latest of which is This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World. Program 00:02 Dan's Intro  01:57 Welcome Dr. Wirzba 02:37 Dr. Wirzba self-introduction, "It doesn't seem there could be a more important conversation than how to live together..." 08:50 Scripture conversation begins -- Genesis I: "I give you Dominion" 16:45 Understanding the context of the language is very helpful; some biblical metaphors can now be made literal  20:20 "God created us for Intimacy with the Land” 28:00 Distinction between idolatry and iconic perception 34:55 Repositioning of our perspective; What is “Nature” and what is “Creation” 42:40 “The Gospel being for all creatures” 44:40 “Jesus as creator”  51:25 "How to pray", re: The Lord's Prayer and “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”. You write that in order to make that real we must restore relationships with the actual land on which people live… To make this sacred prayer realized, what are some practical ways we can restore relationships with the actual land on which we live? 56:00 re: Awakening & Connecting to other Life, Metanoia: a change of heart and direction, and Purification: giving one another the ability to see God's creatures -- I hear that in you saying we need to have time for Metanoia. "What was your metanoia?" References Dr. Seyyed Nasr lecture, 2009 From Nature to Creation - Norman Wirzba book This Sacred Life - Norman Wizba book The Gerasene demoniac QuotesIt doesn't seem that there could be a more important question than to figure out how to live well, in our places, with each other.How can we do this to our world? How can we be damaging it so badly?Scripture assumes a God who loves the world… And the question for me is: how can we say we worship a God who loves the world but not give our love to the world at the same time?These are Agrarian people. As a farm kid, the first thing you know is that… you don't ever presume to do with your land or your animals whatever you want… You know that as a farmer you are only successful in so far as your animals are healthy and your land, your soil, is fertile. Which means that good farmers are always very attentive to the needs of the land, to the needs of plants, to the needs of their animals… It's the realization that you can't possibly succeed if the world that feeds you does not do well at the same time.Subduing means learning to come alongside fellow creatures so that in taking care of their needs you also take care of your own.We are all together sharers in this divine breath that animates Ground into the diversity of Creatures that we see.God understands that apart from soil, plant, and animal life, we can't possibly survive, we can't possibly thrive, and we can't possibly be happy.The first creatures that are presented to “the Adám,” as someone to help them in their loneliness, are animals.Let's go to the second creation story. We forget about the Garden. The image you get there is the first human being, Adam, being animated out of soil. God is the first gardener. We are made to feel connection with soil, plants, animals, and people, because those are all the places where God is active.Scripture affirms a position in which God is present to creatures all of the time, desiring for them to live into the fullness of their lives. It doesn't make sense to talk about human flourishing if everything (humans) need, in the form of water, and air, and food, if it doesn't flourish at the same time.All things came into being through His word.When you're living the life God wants you to, animated by this loving power, there is no better life.I think the first thing to do is for people just to get outside, and: Notice. Look. Pay Attention. Smell. Feel. Touch. Grieve.The thing to start is just to try to calm down and center yourself in your neighborhood.Children can be our teachers, too. ###############Thanks for listening. This podcast is part of our Spring 2022 series, Dominionism.Visit the AllCreation podcast site or AllCreation.org for more. Produced and edited by Chris Searles.See the whole "Dominionism" collection here.

This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He reflects on the problematic assumptions of transhumanism and the importance of discerning the appropriate limits of technological and economic development.Details for the full episode are here.

The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke Divinity School and the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke held a seminar on January 21st, 2022 with Norman Wirzba, PhD, Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke. He gave a talk titled "“This Sacred Life: Linking Cosmology and Health." TMC Seminars are a semi-monthly gathering of faculty, students, clinicians, and others interested in the intersections of theology, medicine, and culture. For more information and recordings, visit https://tmc.divinity.duke.edu/seminar/​.

This week's episode of Spotlights is a clip from our interview with Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He talks about a life of rootedness and the limits of what is "enough," reflecting on his new book, This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World (Cambridge University Press, 2021).Details for the full episode are here.

This week's episode of the Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast features Norman Wirzba, PhD, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University, and Senior Fellow at Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. He discusses his new book, This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World (Cambridge University Press, 2021), which gives a deep philosophical and religious articulation of humanity's identity and vocation by rooting people in a symbiotic, meshwork world that is saturated with sacred gifts. We reflect on numerous topics, including the Anthropocene, transhumanism, food, faith, farming, creativity, and much more.

God's creation is a direct reflection of God's glory, and Christians are called to be faithful stewards of the earth. While global issues of climate and environment can seem out of reach, our local communities give us space to learn and take action in small and large ways. How can we partner with our creator to build a better, more sustainable living environment? What simple, practical changes can we make to responsibly care for our local communities and our world?Chris and Eddie are joined by Dr. Norman Wirzba, the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University. Wirzba's upcoming book, This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World explores three central questions at the intersection of theology and ecology: Who are we? Where are we? What should we do? Wirzba acknowledges that the doctrine of creation is not simply the teaching about how the world began, and he views creation care as an act of honor to God. This episode discusses the realities of climate change as both an ideological and financial issue, the importance of God's covenant relationship with all of creation, and the limits of the natural world.Resources:Follow Dr. Norman Wirzba on the web:https://normanwirzba.com Preorder This Sacred Life: Humanity's Place in a Wounded World  hereFollow Dr. Norman Wirzba on social media:https://www.facebook.com/norman.wirzba https://twitter.com/NWirzba

Norman Wirzba is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Christian Theology and Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute of Ethics at Duke University. His research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. Raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, Norman went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He's the father of four children and is married to Gretchen Ziegenhals. He likes to bake, cook and make things with wood. He also enjoys playing the guitar. He used to be a good athlete! He enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his family and friends. He tries to grow some food.Find him online at https://normanwirzba.comEucharist Church is a community of disciples in San Francisco California seeking to live all of life in reference to Christ. Find us online at eucharistsf.org 

During the summer months the newsletter will be mostly on hiatus, but we will be posting a series of interviews with scholars and writers whose work we believe will be of interest to our listeners. In this installment, I'm delighted to share my conversation with Grace Olmstead. Grace is a journalist and writer whose work focusing on farming and localism has appeared in the New York Times, the American Conservative, Christianity Today, and the Wall Street Journal. Most recently, she is the author of Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We've Left. The book is part memoir, part history of an Idaho farming town, part reflection on place, community, and food. I hope this conversation entices you to pick up Uprooted for yourself. There's much that I learned through the book that we did not get the chance to touch on during our conversation. Grace is also the author of a monthly newsletter, Granola, to which you can subscribe here. During our conversation, Grace referenced two recent papal encyclicals. You can find them here: Laudato Si' and Fratelli Tutti. She also mentioned the work of Norman Wirzba, professor of theology and ethics at Duke University. Naturally, the work of Wendell Berry was also pertinent to Grace's work and our conversation. Virtues of Renewal: Wendell Berry's Sustainable Forms by Jeffrey Bilbro serves as a terrific introduction to Berry's work and vision. I hope you enjoy this conversation. You can look forward to others like it in the coming weeks.Peace,Michael SacasasAssociate Director This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

Derrick is joined by Chelsea Spyres, the pastor and executive director of Riverfront Ministries in Wilmington, Delaware to discuss the Wilmington Kitchen Collective and building community during a pandemic.    www.wilmingtonkitchencollective.com   We are excited to invite you to a free conference this summer. It's called Sustaining Church: Reimagining communities of faith in a climate crisis. The aim of this conference is to bring together theological thinking on creation care with those that are actively growing or starting Christian communities that care for land. The hope is that this will be the first of many conversations that inspire further theological thinking around caring for creation, as well as an opportunity to network and empower localized growing communities of faith. The conference will be held over zoom so even though it's in the UK you can take part. Some of our keynote speakers will be familiar to fans of this podcast, Nurya Love Parish, Ellen Davis, and Norman Wirzba just to name a few. A full list of speakers and tickets can be found at www.hazelnutcommunityfarm.com 

How can we honor God through our eating? On today's episode, theology professor Dr. Norman Wirzba discusses the connection between the Christian faith and the food we eat, expounding on the topic of his recent lecture from the Goodness of Creation and Human Responsibility conference. Dr. Wirzba's lecture and others from the Conference will be made available through our website.

Anna, Sam, and Derrick are joined by Dr. Ellen Davis to discuss her foundational work "Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture" and its ongoing impact.      We are excited to invite you to a free conference this summer. It's called Sustaining Church: Reimagining communities of faith in a climate crisis. The aim of this conference is to bring together theological thinking on creation care with those that are actively growing or starting Christian communities that care for land. The hope is that this will be the first of many conversations that inspire further theological thinking around caring for creation, as well as an opportunity to network and empower localized growing communities of faith. The conference will be held over zoom so even though it's in the UK you can take part. Some of our keynote speakers will be familiar to fans of this podcast, Nurya Love Parish, Ellen Davis, and Norman Wirzba just to name a few. A full list of speakers and tickets can be found at www.hazelnutcommunityfarm.com 

"Cooking is a declaration of love ... food is God's love made delicious." Theologian Norman Wirzba reflects on the threats of our faulty logic of food and our disordered and disconnected relationship to eating and nourishment, and imagines a theology of food grounded in membership, gift, and hospitality. Interview with Matt Croasmun.Support For the Life of the World: Give to the Yale Center for Faith & CultureAbout Norman WirzbaNorman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke University. His teaching, research, and writing happens at the intersections of theology and philosophy, and agrarian and environmental studies. He is the author of several books, including Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (2nd Edition), From Nature to Creation, and The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, and his most recent book, This Sacred Life: The Place of Humanity in a Wounded World, will be published in 2021. In his spare time he likes to bake, play guitar, and make things with wood. For more information visit his website at normanwirzba.com.Show NotesIntroductionFood and Faith: A Theology of Eating—a picture of what eating can be, connecting us to the world, to each other, to God.When it comes to eating in America these days, how are we doing?Anonymity and ignorance. We are disconnected from food, we're not encouraged to know where food comes from or how it came to be."Eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables."Good eating is not solely a matter of personal virtue or vice. It's part of a complicated system, agricultural strategy, and political process we're involved in.Food is central to human flourishing, but if it's only a market commodity, we end up with a faulty logic that drives a sinister food industry.You can only sell so much: therefore, preservativesIf food is primarily to be digested, we have foods that are, in principle, indigestible. It tastes good, and never makes you full. It's the perfect food commodity. The food system is developed to take advantage of you as a unit of consumption. What is eating for?Membership as a eucharistic mode for changing the way we conceive of food and the good. Eating is a daily reminder of our need.Fruits of the spirit that ought to animate our relation to membership.Mutual belonging (Willie Jennings, The Christian Imagination)How disconnection from the land leads to alienation and loneliness.Attention to geography and sources of life; how do we cultivate awareness and proper attention?Robin Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass—the White American presence has always been “this is not home.” Therefore, “The land we live on and are blessed by does not love us.” Think about what kind of compensation must follow to this kind of alienation. Racial components of agriculture and food. "You cannot tell the story of agriculture apart from the story of slavery.” Agricultural labor and the objection to embodiment.Embodiment and food.Essential work, abstraction from bodies, and disembodied labor."We don't want to know, because to have to know these things implicates us in how we shop for food."God creates a world in which creatures eat.What's communicated through a meal prepared for you? You matter.God invites us into hospitality, and food and eating can teach us that nurturing welcoming presence.Food as gift. Submitting oneself to "the grace of the world.” "Food is God's love made delicious.""Life has always proceeded by hospitality."“Eating and cooking … cause us to stop and say, ‘It's not all vicious. Maybe our living together can also be a celebration.'""All eating involves death.” How do you square the gift of food with the death it entails?The first virtue of humility—because I don't know, and because I understand vulnerability, I must live in a more humble, patient way.What does policy look like when it comes through the lens of humility, dependence, gift, and vulnerability?The story of a meal—its cultivating, growing, cooking, gathering, eating, enjoying, and nourishing.You can't homogenize people's experience of food.Sabbath, time, place: Slowing down to notice the goodness of the world God has given us. Thoughtfulness, intention, attention, presence, honoring each otherWho is invited to the table? Communal living, kinship, and community in a welcoming world. Abraham Heschel's “an opening for eternity in time."How can we honor the life that feeds us? Start simple. Soup and bread to celebrate the goodness of the world.

Food insecurity in children is a tragic issue around the world and in the US. In America, the issue is especially changing in rural areas. Rural faith communities often play a central role in addressing rural child hunger, and the support needs and desires of these organizations are nuanced by their faith tradition. This is the subject of a report done jointly by the Duke World Food Policy Center and the No Kid Hungry program of Share Our Strength. It is entitled, Rural Child Hunger and Faith Community Engagement. Joining us today are three experts on this issue. Emma Lietz Bilecky, the chief author of this report, received her graduate training at Duke University and is now Research Fellow with Princeton Theological Seminary's Farminary project. Norman Wirzba and Robb Webb are some of the nation's leading thinkers on issues of food and faith. Norman Wirzba a faculty member of the Duke Divinity School and has written some of the most influential texts on food and faith, and Robb Webb is Director of the Rural Church Division of The Duke Endowment and Chair of the Rural Life Committee of the North Carolina Council of Churches. Download the report at: https://wfpc.sanford.duke.edu/reports/rural-child-hunger-faith-community-engagement Interview Summary Emma, let's jump right in and I'll ask you if you might provide a quick overview of the report. Let's take it as a given that rural child hunger is a very important problem and that faith institutions hold considerable promise in this context. What are some of the things you found in your research that might be especially promising? Thank you, Kelly. Rural child hunger is obviously a really big problem, but it's a problem that's bigger than just access to food. There's a spiritual and a moral dimension to hunger that many religious traditions understand and can speak to. And when we're speaking about rural child hunger, we also need to pay attention to the context in which it exists within families, within communities and within rural food environments. This is often the motivation for the work of faith communities on this issue. Hunger also points to and encompasses bigger issues and systems which perpetuate inequality and injustice. Religious language can help us see this more clearly. The second overarching theme in the report is this movement from charity to justice. And this has a lot to do with the histories of food aid involving religious communities. It's so far haven't solved underlying problems. That doesn't mean that it's not important, but we're thinking about root causes. A lot of the experts we interviewed for this report spoke to that. So the report really focused on and identified justice-centered solutions, which tend to be community-led and defined. The report also talks about mindsets of scarcity versus abundance, which come to bear on this work. So just solutions really recognize abundance. They recognize the human, spiritual and shared resources that communities have already and are distinct from approaches that start by identifying what rural communities lack. And this relates to the final theme of the report, which is all about context and contextual analysis. Just solutions to rural child hunger are really contextually specific, meaning they might not look the same everywhere and they take into account a community's history, assets and unique challenges. This one can be difficult when anti-hunger efforts prioritize big impact and scaling up. But again, why it's important that just solutions be led by rural stakeholders. Thanks for that overview. Robb, you've done such extensive work in faith communities and rural areas. Why are faith community so important in rural America, and how does food insecurity fit in here? Kelly, thank you for the question and for this time. I also just want to give a plug for Emma's report, which I think is terrific. And she hit on a number of the reasons that I might use to answer this question. I think in rural communities, churches are anchor institutions. They are the place that remains. One thing I like to point out, at least in rural North Carolina is we've had school consolidation. And so in many communities, the school might not necessarily be local. We've had work consolidation where the meals may have left. Even those that farm may have to have a second job in order to make things happen. What's remained, and what's been at the center of the community, has been the church. And the church has a number of assets, many of them are picked up in the report. I want to emphasize resilience. I think rural communities, rural people in rural churches are incredibly resilient and creative, and that's an important asset. They also have a tremendous amount of available land. Buildings that can be put to use, kitchens and a volunteer-base that has local knowledge, energy, and is solution-oriented. I think what you have in churches is this unbelievable ability to mobilize, to address the deepest challenges and communities and rural child hunger is certainly among those. Robb, thanks for that. Let me ask you one follow-up question. Given that you're in the world of philanthropy, what role do you see philanthropy's playing in this area and how can they be more active? Our traditional role is as grant makers, and I think we have an expanded role. One, I think as conveners, we can take the good examples that are in this report and creative programs that are happening across the country and make those more well-known with the groups that we typically work with. We can convene and lift up projects. I also think we can think about the way in which we invest our money so that we're investing in ways that help families advance. So what I think philanthropy needs to do is ask the question, why are people hungry problem is bigger than access to food? I think we have a role in the way that we invest, in the way that we give and the way that we convene that can help begin to address challenges in rural child nutrition. So Norman, one can think of faith communities as places where services and aid can be delivered, but you've written extensively that food and faith are connected in theological and spiritual ways. Can you explain? Sure. I think what's really important to understand is that we're living in a fairly new time in the history of the world where food appears for many people as a commodity. And so the most important concern is whether we can get it as cheaply and conveniently as possible. And that's done a lot of good in the sense that it has provided a lot of calories, but I think it's also left people with an impoverished understanding of what food actually is. Because when you think about food from the perspective of some of the world's great religious traditions, or even the spiritual traditions of indigenous peoples, food registers primarily as a gift rather than as a commodity. And when you start to think about food as a gift, that opens up different ways for thinking about how we're going to grow food, how we're going to process and distribute food, but also how we're going to consume food. And so for me, one of the really important things is to engage some of these faith traditions or these traditional indigenous cultures to see what difference would it make if we thought about land, not simply in terms of how much yield we can derive from it, but also think about land from the perspective of how do we participate in this sense that food exists for the nurturing of people's lives. It exists for the purposes of building community. It exists for the purpose of helping people understand more deeply their place in a world with a bewildering array of creatures, whether those are plant or animal creatures, but also then how these faith traditions can be the places where by people can be inspired to think about growing food in different ways, but also sharing and distributing that food. You've written about this in very powerful ways. Are there signs that thinking more about food and food systems is happening on the ground in faith communities? I think so. And one of the reasons I think that is when I first started working on these kinds of themes, there would be a handful of people that I would consider allies or even people who took much interest in it. And what I have seen is that the interest has simply exploded. There's now a proliferation of books about this. There's a proliferation of leaders now in different faith organizations, institutions who are understanding that food ministries and by food ministry I mean something much more than simply a pantry or a soup kitchen, but actually getting people involved in food production, trying to form connections between institutions and producers, right? They're understanding something about how food and the way we eat can be a profound witness to what we value in life. And so rather than just being something like a boutique side item in the life of a faith tradition, food can actually become something much more central, perhaps even indispensable in certain contexts for living out what the values are of that faith tradition. Norman, if you look at different religious traditions, which of course have profound differences in the way some things are viewed, are there common themes that weave through these traditions with respect to food and land? Yes, I think that's certainly the case. And I think one of the general ways that we might describe it is to say that food is not simply a mundane reality. There's something sacred about it. And this is not just a sort of warm and fuzzy notion of sacred because most people from a historical point of view have understood that for anybody to eat, others have to die. And that means that the gift that we call food, that we consume is a really costly and precious gift. And so to affirm something about the sacred character of life, means that we should not presume to think that food can be taken without a sincere effort to be morally in right relationship with the land and with creatures. And most basically what that has meant is that you take care of the sources of food that nurture us, right? So that means you respect the life of animals and plants. You respect the integrity of fields and watersheds, and then you also respect the eaters of this food by not producing food that's going to make them ill. So it really becomes a way of affirming life as not just some sort of mechanical motion or eating as some sort of fueling operation, but to really think about eating and food production as ways of helping us understand life in a much richer, more profound, what I would call sacred sense, which is to say it's affirmed by the divine and should be also affirmed and nurtured by us. Emma, one of the topics I'd like to ask you about this new thinking that's being done about the use of church-owned land. Can you explain some of what's been done on this issue and where things are going? Sure, Kelly, I really love this idea and this work that seems to be happening more and more in rural faith context. Moving from thinking about access to food, to thinking about access to land for food production. And it really relates to this school charity to just this theme, specifically a community's capacity for self-determination and self-preservation, which comes out in a lot of recent work, both practical and academic. That really draws from this history of land dispossession, which has disproportionately hurt and affected communities of color and also disrupted cultural food systems like in indigenous communities. And land is the root of this inequality of this disconnection from food. A lot of people also have been saying for a while, this idea that land really is just the most important thing in determining a community's food future and food security. It's a bigger issue of access to the capacity of a food production, as well as economic, social and ecological health and resilience. So one example I can look up is that the Black Church Food Security Network, which is engaged in these kinds of asset-based community development projects. And while they've been working primarily in urban spaces, they're also starting to work more rural and thinking about church-owned land or food production, but also for reparations. So Robb let's have you weigh in on this. I know that when we talk about church-owned land, there's the physical property the church happens to be on, but it's a bigger picture than that isn't it? Yes, it can be. And the audit that I mentioned, what we found is that a number of people have donated land to a church or a church has purchased property. For example, in the half of North Carolina, from Greensboro to the Tennessee border, there are about 7,500 available acres just in the United Methodist Church. And that's from accumulation of parcels that have been donated, requested across time, or that that church has bought up. That then presents an incredible opportunity to begin to ask questions about what would it look like for first-time farmers or early farmers to give them a way in which to start their work. One of the ways that we've been thinking about this is... And this is a question, so I don't have an example, but the question is, Could you create a supply chain for a business that was food-oriented in a rural place? For example, the central kitchen model, which comes out of the Child and Adult Care Nutrition Program offers some reimbursement for low-income children when they're in a licensed childcare setting. Well, what if you could take a commercial kitchen in a church and build out along with all of this available land, a whole supply network. So you're putting people to work. You're creating some economic opportunities and you're preparing food that's fresh, local, nutrient-rich. I think that's the kind of creative thinking that we're looking for in churches. And that available land is out there, but it does require taking the time to do the audit. I think that's a challenge, but it's another way in which philanthropy can help churches begin to think about what they have, specifically that would be at the denominational level. So at the adjudicatory level. We've done it with Methodists. Others might want to look at other denominations to see what holdings are available. So I'd like to ask each of you, what do you think are exciting and important developments around rural hunger and faith communities? Norman, let's begin with you. Norman Wirzba: I think one of the very exciting things is that we're seeing a number of people first of all, who are coming into rural communities. I know that in many parts of the country and there will be regional variations we know that there's been an exodus of people out of rural communities moving towards urban. But we're also seeing that some places, people are moving back into rural communities and they're wanting to invest in communities. And the way they're doing that is often going to be through a rehabilitation of a local food economy. And it takes a variety of forms, right? On the one hand, it might be that you've got a proliferation of CSA's in the area and congregations are partnering with these farmers directly to not just provide food for congregations or for families, but it's also becoming a way then of connecting people to the sources of their food, by connecting them to the farmers. Sometimes people in these congregations will go work with the farmers. Or sometimes it'll take the form of more niche kinds of ventures. I'm thinking here about the form of a local brewery, local cideries, right? These become ways that local efforts around food often supported by faith, traditions or faith communities become ways to rebuild something like a community center. A sense that what you really have is not just a conglomeration of people living in their disparate houses, but are actually trying to come together and create a sense of fellow feeling. Because, as my students will often say is after they've been thinking about food for a while, they realize that food is really an expression of fellowship, right? It's a way of people knitting their lives into the lives of each other. And I think what we're seeing is that communities are trying to do more of that kind of work. And that's really exciting because that means that food and eating can be ways of community development. And this is a vastly different model than we might have thought about 10 or 20 years ago, where congregations might host a meal from time-to-time, or they might have a food pantry where they will give out food. But none of those were really about establishing relationships with many community members or just thinking about the betterment of the community as a whole. So I would say that's one of the real exciting things that I'm seeing happening in many parts of the country now. Robb Webb: I think one of the most exciting changes is the change in orientation, the real desire to move to justice-oriented solutions. And what I see over and over again is churches who are engaging their community, who are asking the question behind the question and then are beginning to think about how to engage. So rather than simply moving to a distribution model, they are asking how to alleviate hunger right now in the distribution model, and then change the economic situation for people long-term through the food system. And I think that long-term will have an important impact on rural child hunger and hunger in general. I'm excited to see where this is going and it's built on a lot of good work that's gone before. Emma Lietz-Bilecky: I think of two things. First, I'm really excited about the ways that I see all kinds of religious communities starting to engage with their traditions differently and reinterpret them for the purposes of health and justice. One example is Adrienne Krone writes about the Shmita year, the year where land is given rest. And this isn't a practice that Jewish communities have been practicing, but she asks could they be. So mining our traditions for these practices and these ideas that can be used in the present moment to solve the problems that are before us. And then the second thing, I really am excited about the ways that faith communities are drawing on principles of community organizing at many levels. And we talked about asset-based community development and that how churches are thinking about what resources they have available, but it's also about what resources are available in the wider community. A faith community might not have everything it needs to solve these really complex and embedded problems, but by joining with other organizations and institutions at many levels, some really cool things can happen. And that's what I see as pretty exciting in this work.

In this conversation, Philip spends time with Prof. Norman Wirzba. Prof. Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology and a Senior Fellow, Kenan Institute for Ethics. He is the author of several books including: * The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age * Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight * Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity He is also the editor of The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land In this conversation Philip and Prof. Wirzba discuss the spiritual tradition of ecology, the need for a new accounting and how justice movements are essential to understanding society. *The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of intellectual goodness and creative musings. * Philip's Drop: Brothers and Sisters to Us: U.S Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on Racism 1979 (https://www.usccb.org/committees/african-american-affairs/brothers-and-sisters-us) Norman's Drop: Braiding Sweetgrass (https://www.amazon.com/Braiding-Sweetgrass-Indigenous-Scientific-Knowledge/dp/1571313567) by Robin Wall Kimmerer Homegrown Album (https://open.spotify.com/album/08wQogg47jUetQkJjqjn6B) by Neil Young Special Guest: Prof. Norman Wirzba.

Josh Banner is a spiritual director and host of the Invitation Podcast. This is part two of our deep dive interview. (Here is Part 1). We discuss spiritual direction, how contemplative prayer helped him have more fun, and ways to find deep rest in things you are already doing. We also talk about the following: A rule of life and using time well. Josh’s mancrush with superheroes of the faith. The summer book series with A Sunlit Absence by Father Martin Laird. How to pray during covid-19 and how to start praying with 5 minutes a day. Rich Mullins. The connection between creativity and contemplative practice. Find Josh at The Invitation Podcast: https://invitationpodcast.org/. Check out his free resources on praying to Examen & 40 Ways to Spend 5 minutes with God HERE: https://www.invitationpodcast.org/downloads. Links from this episode: Part 1 of this interview: http://bit.ly/jbannerP1, Poet Susanna Childress: https://awst-press.com/susanna-childress, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman: https://amzn.to/3l1IRVt, Phoebe Judge’s podcasts: Criminal: https://www.wunc.org/people/phoebe-judge. This is Love: https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/this-is-love, Father Martin Laird’s books: Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation: https://amzn.to/2YAN60L, A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplation: https://amzn.to/2QcwuHW, An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation: https://amzn.to/31harWZ, Norman Wirzba’s Living the Sabbath: https://amzn.to/31gWc4u. Music is by Ordinary Neighbors: https://rebrand.ly/b08f8. These notes may contain affiliate links, which support the production of this podcast. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/creativeandfree/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creativeandfree/support

Norman Wirzba is a professor at Duke University. He pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In particular, his research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life. Professor Wirzba has published several books, including The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight, Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (in its 2nd Edition), and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation. He also has edited several books, including The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.

Doing theology in an anthropocene world

In this episode, contemplative author and gardener Christine Aroney-Sine offers a perspective from the Global South, and from an Australian point of view in particular. Drawing from her books The Gift of Wonder and To Garden with God, as well as from her blog Godspacelight, she shares her thoughts about the connection between gardening and community, and explains lectio tierra--the practice of sensing the presence of God in nature. We speak as well about the ways in which all of these things found expression in ancient Celtic traditions--an historical European indigenous worldview that is finding new relevance today among people who care about community development and creation care.NotesGuest: Christine Aroney-Sine: https://godspacelight.com/about/Website: https://godspacelight.com/Book: The Gift of Wonder: https://godspacelight.com/the-gift-of-wonder/Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/To-Garden-With-God-177821975582936/Book: To Garden with God: https://godspacelight.com/shop/to-garden-with-god/Book: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring: https://www.rachelcarson.org/SilentSpring.aspxWendell Berry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry; http://www.wendellberrybooks.com/Norman Wirzba: https://normanwirzba.com/Australian wildfires: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/3/21048891/australia-wildfires-koalas-climate-change-bushfires-deaths-animals-damageCarbon offsets: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/16/carbon-offset-projects-carbon-emissions or https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/carbon-offset.htmGarden blessing: https://godspacelight.com/2010/09/27/garden-blessing-for-earth-day/Quote: "The fastest pace for noticing is a walk." ― Wendell Berry, Our Only World: Ten EssaysOur Only World: https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/our-only-world/Lectio tierra: https://godspacelight.com/2016/08/25/listening-to-the-life-of-jesus-in-a-tree/Psalm 1: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+1&version=NIVProfessor John McQuarrie: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/05/guardianobituaries.religionPoet Mary Oliver: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliverMary Oliver's book Dog Songs: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17707772-dog-songs

Dr. Norman Wirzba and Rev. Mia McClain – a Conversational Sermon – Colossians 1:15-20 and John 1:1-14...

"Eating is not simply filling some gustatory hole, eating is knitting yourself into the fabric of life that's going on all the time, all around you...and how you knit yourself in can either make that fabric a beautiful thing, or it can make it tattered. Right now, I think a lot of our eating is creating tatters all across the world. What would be great is if the kinds of eating we do, beginning with the growing of food and the harvesting of food and the distribution and the cooking and sharing of food...could create a beautiful tapestry."   Dr. Norman Wirzba is a Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology, Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the Senior Associate Dean for Institutional & Faculty Advancement at Duke School of Divinity. Dr. Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies, and has published several books on food and land. He serves as Series Editor for a group of books called “Culture of the Land”. As an editor, Dr. Wirzba contributed to Wendell Berry’s work in The Art of the Commonplace. He is the director of a project called “Facing the Anthropocene” wherein he works with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment.   In this episode... How connecting with the land fosters empathy and stewardship Why the environmental preservation movement has seen so little progress How children model Presence and show us how to be in the Now Restlessness that is inherent in the social condition Examining sacrifice How the world economy thrives on ingratitude How operating in a world where speed, homogeneity, and mechanization are the production norm, ultimately degrades life at every level Our human creaturely condition Nurturing the world that nurtures us The importance of moving cautiously in a world that we don't fully understand The mental health benefits of growing food, cooking, and eating in community Food as the ultimate cross-disciplinary subject   Resources Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Wendell Berry Mary Oliver normanwirzba.com https://divinity.duke.edu/faculty/norman-wirzba

Ann Druyan continues the "Cosmos" legacy as we discuss the future of space exploration. Norman Wirzba discusses the relationship between religious faith and food. John Bruning recounts the stories of famous fighter pilots from WWII. Candace Fleming on the rise and fall of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh.

Norman Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada, the United States, and Europe. In particular, his research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life. He is currently the director of a multi-year, Henry Luce-Foundation-funded projected entitled “Facing the Anthropocene.” In this project, housed at Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, he is working with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment.  Professor Wirzba has published several books, including The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age, Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight, Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity, From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (in its 2nd Edition), and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation. He also has edited several books, including The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.Professor Wirzba serves as general editor for the book series Culture of the Land: A Series in the New Agrarianism, published by the University Press of Kentucky, and is co-founder and executive committee member of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology.Source: Duke University Divinity School.  

Special guest Norman Wirzba joins us at VL. He is an author, speaker, and Professor of Theology and Ecology at Duke Divinity School.

I talk about how relationships are essential to put purpose to the work we do and any dominion we may strive towards. I also do a brief analysis of a film called "Peter and the Farm." I hope you enjoy the show! It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favorite episode with a friend. If you have any comments or questions, email me at ecologyandexist@gmail.com. The music is by Joseph Tennant: https://josephtennant.com/home Thanks for listening and you can view my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

Norman Wirzba was raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, Norman went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He’s the father… Read more about Norman Wirzba: Farm to Table Theology

This is the third episode in our new, four-part podcast series 'Eating Thoughtfully'. Eating is never a solitary act; each meal connects us to a food chain, precious resources, human labour and a global ecology. Given the growing environmental impacts and social consequences of today’s agricultural practices, urgent action is needed. In this podcast series, we outline some biblical principles regarding food and propose a framework for thoughtful eating – so that we can learn to eat joyfully, relationally and sustainably. In this episode, Hannah Eves, Katherine Martin and Andrew Phillips (authors of the new book 'Thoughtful Eating') explore biblical perspectives on food. We were pleased to welcome our guest Professor Norman Wirzba (author of 'Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating') whose concept of 'Thoughtful Eating' inspired the title of our book and podcast. Episode 1  Episode 2  Episode 4 

Amidst a culture fostering skeptical apathy and fatalist visions of our planet’s future, how can we begin to strive toward a renewed creation? In this episode, our producer, Colin Hoogerwerf appeals to Dr. Steve Bouma-Prediger, Dr. Dan Richter, and Dr. Norman Wirzba in order to gain a richer view of these complicated issues. Colin invites these experts to reflect on how the role dirt has played in our lives has evolved since Biblical times, and how this may be connected to humility. They examine etymology, reflect on the Biblical call to be stewards of creation, and review findings in soil science to confront these questions with an eye for hope. The result—a fresh vision of our human relationship to the Earth. Dr. Steve Bouma-Prediger is Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Chicago in 1992 and has also earned a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary and a Master of Philosophy from the Institute for Christian Studies. He holds a B.A. in math and computer science from Hope College. Dr. Bouma-Prediger chairs the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee in addition to overseeing the Environmental Studies minor at Hope. Dr. Daniel D. Richter is Professor of Soils and Forest Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He co-authored Understanding Soil Change (Cambridge University Press) and his research has further revealed the extensive concomitance soil shares with ecosystems and the earth’s environment as a whole. He received his B.A. from Lehigh University in 1973 and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1980. Dr. Norman Wirzba is Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Rural Life at Duke University. He holds a Primary Appointment at Duke University’s School of Divinity and a Secondary Appointment at the Nicholas School of the Environment. His research explores the intersections of philosophy, sustainable agriculture, and ecology through a theological lens. Find a conversation about this episode at the BioLogos Forum.

The Joycast –In a world where we're busy and on budgets, eating has become transactional rather than transformational. We often find ourselves disconnected from the food we eat.  Additionally, we often seek out the fastest and cheapest options with little thought to where it comes from, how it's grown, or how the farmers and animals were treated in the process. This episode will change the way you think about food and gather around the table.For show more show notes and recipes visit: www.margaretfeinberg.com/joycast

The first episode of 2019 is another reflection from the book "Food and Faith" by Norman Wirzba. This book is what started the entire process of looking critically at how we experience food and contribute to the community or environment around us. I try to challenge the idea of taking food as merely utilitarian consumption but rather observe it with more sacred intention. I hope you enjoy the show! It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favourite episode with a friend. If you have any comments or questions, email me at ecologyandexist@gmail.com. The music used is Flesh by Emery and Spirit Become Us by Gungor. Thanks for listening and you can view my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

Does faith shape your relationship to food? Should we be more spiritually connected to our food and how it is produced? Explore these ideas and more with Duke's Norman Wirzba on the Leading Voices in Food podcast series. Wirzba is a philosopher and agrarian theologian in Duke's Divinity School. About Norman Wirzba Dr. Norman Wirzba is a philosopher, distinguished professor of Christian Theology at Duke University Divinity School and senior fellow at the KenanInstitute for Ethics at Duke. Norman is a leading scholar in agrarian theology. In his research and teaching he draws, connections between theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. Norman's work focuses on understanding and promoting practices that can best equip both rural and urban church communities to be faithful and responsible members of creation. He is the author of seven books, including the award-winning book, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, and Making Peace with the Land: God's Call to Reconcile with Creation. He is also the editor of a book series called Culture of the Land, a series on the new agrarianism published by the University Press of Kentucky. Norman, welcome to the Leading Voices in Food. Interview Summary Could you explain the concept of agrarian theology? Sure. I think a good place to start is to recognize that we are in this new experiment that is really unprecedented in the history of humanity. And what I mean by that is that people are now, for the most part, urban people. That means that we have lived now for so many thousands of years, hundreds of years specifically around agricultural modes of life, and that has really come to an end for many people. It's true to say that people lived in cities long before, but today's urbanization means that people are really cut off in both sort of the modes of emotional and sympathetic connection, but also, I think more cognitively, because they don't have to think about how their embodied life connects them to particular places of land and the lives of the plant and animal creatures that lived there. As agrarians people always had to work with land and animals and plants to make possible their own sustenance. And that's no longer the case. People live by shopping, right? You can buy all the food that you need and what that does, I would argue is it gives us a dramatically shrunken conception of our place in the world and our need of the bodies of plants and animals to make our own embodied life possible. And so agrarian theology is a way of trying to open people up to the experience of land and fellow creatures as the very means of our own livelihood. And then also to open up some questions about, well, what's the spiritual significance of our dependence upon plant and animal life and death? It sounds like you're saying that there's a greater distance between people and their food than what used to be the case. Physical distance and then also a psychological distance, if you will, because they don't necessarily know how it's made or who grew it or things like that. It sounds like you're arguing to shrink that distance. So why would that be important? Yes. I want to shrink the distance, and I want to help people expand their imaginations for food because when you think about how food comes to us primarily as a packaged commodity, the histories of life and the histories of struggle in that life are often clouded to us. We don't see how to have a, something like a tomato or to have an egg or to have ice cream... how these different realities presuppose so much else that's been going on. And a lot of what has gone on has got all sorts of ethical values and spiritual dimensions embedded within it. So what's wrong with the current system then the people are distant from their food. And why should it change? Well, if we think about how people, generally speaking, of course, desire is to have food as cheaply and as conveniently as possible. Well, to do that, farmers are going to have to engage in particular kinds of practices where they're not going to devote the kind of care that we might associate with the humane treatment of animals or with the very considerate care of our lands, our soils, our waters. Because to get a really cheap strawberry or to have a really cheap piece of hamburger meat means that we're going to probably, not always, but probably we're going to abuse either the cattle that are making the beef possible or we're going to rely on agricultural practices such that people who pick the strawberries do not get paid a very good wage or they're going to have to use a lot of poisons to deal with pest management. And what's at issue in those kinds of practices is whether or not we think the life of a cow or the life of a farm worker or even the life of a strawberry plant...do these really matter for us in some larger frame. And I think one of the things that makes people ask about the spiritual dimensions of eating is that people are growing a bit more unhappy about the way so much of the food is being produced. There's a kind of disregard of what we might call the sanctity of life that is embedded in the food that we eat. And so it's not surprising then that we find people who, when they start to think more carefully about the food that they put into their own bodies or the bodies of their children, they say there's something wrong about our food systems that seem..that seem to degrade the life of plants and animals, and farm workers and gardeners. And so they're wanting to think about a better way to raise food that honors the life. Because if we honor the life that feeds us, we're also honoring the bodies that are eating. What drew you to this work originally? Well, that's a great question. I started out thinking that I was going to be a farmer and not an academic, and so I came to academic work sort of thinking that I could leave farming behind and just focus on the more intellectual pursuits of philosophers and theologians. But that all changed for me when I met Wendell Berry, who is a Kentucky farmer and poet and also a major cultural critic; and he helped me understand that agrarian traditions actually contain within them a pretty comprehensive cultural framework to think about the large questions of life, to think about social organizations, the forms of politics that we have in it, but also the economic systems that make our life possible. And so he helped me think about the work that I could do as an agrarian, as making a contribution to more academic disciplines because the truth is, of course, that farmers don't show up on university campuses very much. And so I want to try to represent something like agrarian ways of thinking because agrarian traditions are very old, and they have shown up across the world's diverse cultures. And so to bring their insights to academic discussions I think is a really important effort.  I understand that your children tease you about God as Gardener. And the theme of the rural life and gardening resonate throughout your own life and work. In your talks and writings, you help people explore questions about the meaning of food and spirituality of eating. What do you think people are seeking? So yeah, I think one of the reasons I use the image of God the gardener is, first of all, it shows up in Christian and Jewish scriptures with some importance I think. But what we need to do when we bring up an image like that is help people understand that the image that many have of God as being really far away, and distant, and then also mostly angry, is really a misconception. That you get this creation story in Genesis where you first discover God on God's knees holding dirt in God's hands and then kissing it so as to breathe into it the life forms that eventually become beings, plants and animals. And you know, I'm not interested in reading the story in a literal way, but what that story communicates is something about how God perceives the world to be precious at the most fundamental level, which is the level of soil and that God is present to the world in the forms of nurture and care. And what that translates into, I think when, with people who are in Jewish and Christian faith traditions, is they want to suggest that if God engages the world in this mode of gardening, that maybe gardening can be a way for us to think about our place in the world. Not because everybody is going to be something like a professional gardener, but that something like the dispositions and the sympathies and the habits of care and nurture that gardening will entail, need to be exercised in the context in which we move today. And I think we're seeing some of that with a real interest in natural systems and agriculture, local food economies, things like the farm to table movement. People who maybe don't garden themselves, but they want to know that the food that shows up on their plate has been raised in a way that exercises nurture and care. And so I think religious traditions, and I will say that we can go well beyond Judaism and Christianity here, these religious traditions often have some really valuable things to say, not just about the value and sanctity of life, but also as a way of thinking about what life is for or more directly what's eating for. Is eating just about fueling a body or is eating about something like creating a world that will be more beautiful, more fertile, and maybe also more delicious. We're talking at sort of a theoretical level about how scriptures are interpreted and the way different faithsties are addressing food issues. Could you give us an example or two of how this might play out on the ground out there in the real world? Sure. So I'll give you an example of a program, a project that I've been involved with for several years is called Anathoth community garden, which happens here in northern Orange County. This community is a very rural community where there has the other is being seen. And so for people to work together around growing food, and then to also eat together around the table--what that does is it creates a condition in which we can see how the people that are across the table or across the garden plot, are people very much like us. That have certain kinds of fears and hopes and aspirations. And working around eating together and growing food together bridges some of the distance, it helps reduce some of the suspicions and helps us think more about our common humanity. Right, so that's one program that I would lift up. I think another one is a friend of mine, Nate Stuckey at Princeton Theological Seminary has started a farm project called Farminary, where university and the Divinity School have some land that they have devoted to agricultural production and students from the seminary will take their classes out at the Farminary. They will bring agricultural texts along with their Biblical and theological texts to see what does this mean for the forms of ministry that pastors might engage in as they start their churches. And I think what's exciting to see for me, is I travel around the country talking with different folks about agriculture and food, is to see the number of congregations, whether they are Christian, Jewish, Muslim--mosques and synagogues and churches all over the place--are deciding that food and agriculture, the growing of food, the feeding of people really gets to the heart of their faith convictions. And so for churches and synagogues and mosques to either develop some of their lands for agricultural purposes or to partner with agricultural people is a way of doing several good things at once. They are providing healthy nutritious food for their members or for their communities. They're building bridges, they're making their faith institutions places for community development, but also economic revitalization. And these are all really good things and, as the best plus of all, you get to enjoy some really good food with good people. Norman, when I first met you, it was kind of an epiphany to me, if you will, that there was more to food and faith-related issues than I originally thought. So in the background that I have in most detail: public health, people would do projects with churches like trying to reduce hypertension among the parishioners, for example, mainly considered churches a place where lots of people were gathered. So you could intervene with a group much like you would a school or a work site, but there wasn't anything special about the church and its philosophy or food being part of its fundamental mission. You're really talking about food and being part of the fundamental mission, aren't you. Oh, I certainly am. Because if you think about food in it's deeper philosophical and religious sense, what we're talking about is that food is not simply a fuel or commodity. It's actually the means of life and love. It's the way we communicate that life is either precious, or it's not. And so for us to be able to, to highlight how from a religious a point of view, that food is really this expression of love and nurture and cherishing, that really transforms the way people will think about themselves. The way they'll think about their neighborhoods and the way they'll think about the world more generally. So I think the work of faith communities in food and in community development and public health and revitalization efforts is going to be really crucial. Because if all we think food does is give us the fuel that we need to keep our bodies going, in the most convenient and inexpensive way forward, we're not really changing the paradigm by which people are so concerned about how there is so much degradation of our lands, of our waters, of our plants and animals that are going on all around us. We really have to get to the basic question about what we believe food to be and what we think eating is fundamentally about and what purpose it serves in our world. And if we can get to that more fundamental level, then I think we can build some common work around this idea that everything that lives is in some way, not equally, but in some way precious, and we have to get busy caring about it and caring for it. And I think this is what communities can do if they recommit to fundamental values. There are, of course, many faiths and faith traditions and we'll be recording podcasts with people from different faiths in the future, but I wonder if you might comment on themes that might weave through different faiths with respect to food? Yeah. I think one of the really basic ones is simply the sanctity of life. I think what's been very clear in recent decades and centuries really is to see how the commodification of the world goes hand in hand with the degradation of the world. And so people are wanting to know how can we speak about something like the sacred character of life in fresh ways. And this is something that faith traditions across the world share in common. That this idea that life is not simply an accident. Life is not simply atoms crashing into atoms. That there is something about life which renders it sacred. And so something about the sanctity of life calls us to give diverse expression to what this might look like in our communities and in our world. I think another shared theme besides the sanctity of life is that the creation in which we live--and I know that the language of creation isn't going to be shared across traditions--but there's an understanding about how life at its most fundamental level is good and beautiful and so to recover that sensibility I think will also be important when people are often wondering whether or not the universe in which we move is fundamentally absurd or meaningless. I think people who have come from some faith traditions will be able to say there's fundamental goodness about this world and about life and we need to find ways to recover it.  

This episode I try to articulate a visualization of where our food comes from. We too often are used to the convenience of modern grocery stores and ignore the work that other people exerted to bring us our food. I hope you enjoy the show! It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favourite episode with a friend. You can email me at ecologyandexist@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions. The music is Sun Soaked by Beach Towels. Thanks for listening and you can see my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

After reading a paragraph from “Food and Faith” by Norman Wirzba in the chapter Thinking Theologically about Food, I share a few points on what I enjoy and then dive into why I'm not vegan. I hope you enjoy the show! It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favourite episode with a friend. You can email me at ecologyandexist@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions. The music is Sun Soaked by Beach Towels. Thanks for listening and you can see my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

This episode’s paragraph comes from Norman Wirzba’s book “Food & Faith” in the chapter The "Roots" of Eating: Our Life Together in Gardens. Like I mentioned last time, this book has drastically altered my outlook on numerous topics related to our relationship with food, land, and the environment in general. I discuss our disconnect from the wisdom of the place, which results in irresponsible decisions and disregard for the ramifications of our interactions with the land. It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favourite episode with a friend. The music is by Beach Towels and the song is called Sun Soaked. Thanks for listening and you can see my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

In this episode, I read a paragraph from Norman Wirzba's book, "Food & Faith." The paragraph covers the importance of gardening and its' connection to culture. I want to apologize for the plethora of um's, I'm still getting the hang of talking alone and with each episode, I hope to improve. It would be wonderful if you left a positive review wherever you listen or share your favourite episode with a friend. The music is by Beach Towels and the song is called Sun Soaked. Thanks for listening and you can see my writing or photography at the links below. masonunrau.com http://www.masonunrau.com/blog/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/masonunrau/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MasonUnrauPhotography/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/masonunrau

Sunday, June 17, 2018 | Ruth: Poverty, Privilege, & the Presence of God | Rev. Michelle Matthews preaches on Ruth 3. Listen as Michelle helps us understand how the story of Ruth gives us a new way of understanding redemption and salvation, and tune in as Dr. Norman Wirzba, Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Agrarian Studies at Duke Divinity School talks about food justice, migrant workers, and a way to understand salvation through the crisis at the border. The band leads us in "Rescuer" and beautiful hymn "Rock of Ages (When the Day Seems Long)".

10/22/2017 Luke 14:12-24 Norman Wirzba Dr. Norman Wirzba was raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, and went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He’s […]

Norman Wirzba, in addition to being an author and professor at Duke Divinity, he is also an eco-theologian.Raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, Norman went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He’s the father of four children and is married to Gretchen Ziegenhals. He likes to bake, cook and make things with wood. He also enjoys playing the guitar. He used to be a good athlete! He enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his family and friends. He tries to grow some food.“According to Scripture, the world we live in is God’s creation. It is the visual, fragrant, audible, touchable, and tastable manifestation of God’s love, the place where God’s desire that others be and be well finds earthly expression.”

Norman Wirzba, in addition to being an author and professor at Duke Divinity, he is also an eco-theologian.Raised on a farm in Southern Alberta, Norman went on to study history at the University of Lethbridge, theology at Yale University Divinity School, and philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Since then he has taught at Saint Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan, Georgetown College (KY), and Duke University Divinity School. He’s the father of four children and is married to Gretchen Ziegenhals. He likes to bake, cook and make things with wood. He also enjoys playing the guitar. He used to be a good athlete! He enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his family and friends. He tries to grow some food.“According to Scripture, the world we live in is God’s creation. It is the visual, fragrant, audible, touchable, and tastable manifestation of God’s love, the place where God’s desire that others be and be well finds earthly expression.”

Lecture (Franklin S. Hickman) recorded Oct. 11, 2016.

Norman Wirzba is on the podcast talking about his newest book, Way of Love: Rediscovering the Heart of Christianity. Spoiler alert: it's love. Norman and Tripp talk about ecology, creation out of nothing, and why you don't want to be like Socrates. How does a theologian get interested in ecology you might ask? Norman describes meeting Wendell Berry and how that helped him to see how land and food issues are central to the way human beings think about cultural issues. "So much of Christianity is Gnostic today and only cares about our souls - you forget about our embodiment. When you talk about embodiment you have to talk about food, land, energy, water, air." Way of Love is a shift back to the earthiness of the gospel telling - retelling the heart of Christianity connected to love. But not the sort of shallow, flippant, me-and-Jesus love. This love is not primarily an emotion but an action, a power - a power of God at work in the world. How does that power get expressed when we think about: God's relationship and care for non-human creatures The way God cares for human communities How it is at work in our individual and collective bodies What happens when you take love out of the realm of emotivism, and see how it is a power at work in the world? It opens up whole new ways of thinking about our relationships to each other, to the places in which we live, a new insight into the kinds of degradation we are committing and how destructive they are. "When we destroy bodies, when we destroy lands, it is an affront to God's love." Any Christianity that doesn't talk about the wounding of love or bodies is naive Christianity. And if Christianity is to survive at all, it better be about teaching us how to love each other, love the world, love God. "Without love, Christianity becomes really dangerous." Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weekend on YOUR HEALTH® Adam & Cristy will be talking with Dr. Norman Wirzba and Rabbi Steven Sager, Professors at Duke Univeristy Divinity School about Hunger Health and Faith. Please tune in! The show will air: WCHL 97.9FM • Saturday, March 19th at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. • Sunday, March 20th at 9 a.m. and 5 […]

Michial Farmer interviews Norman Wirzba about his recent book "From Nature to Creation."

Michial Farmer interviews Norman Wirzba about his recent book "From Nature to Creation."

Michial Farmer interviews Norman Wirzba about his recent book "From Nature to Creation."

Norman Wirzba sees a moral vacuum at the heart of the presidential campaign: He says candidates are ignoring society's most vulnerable citizens. Wirzba is a professor of theology, ecology and agrarian studies at Duke Divinity School who also teaches environmental ethics at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. His books include "The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age."

3/19/2015. Session 3 of Candler's Centennial Academic Conference, "Prophetic Voices." Speaker: Carol Newsom; Panelists: Sally Bingham & Norman Wirzba

Norman Wirzba, professor of theology and ecology at Duke Divinity School and Nicholas School of the Environment, addresses the story and world behind the system of food.

Norman Wirzba is professor of theology and ecology at Duke Divinity School. He teaches courses on theology as they relate to environmental and agricultural issues. His current research focuses on developing an account of the doctrine of creation that speaks to humanity’s faithful presence in the world. He is the author of several books, including Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land. He edited The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.

A Devotional by Norman Wirzba from the Duke Summer Institute