In “Regenerative Agriculture: The Practical Implications from Genesis 1,” Shawn and Beth Dougherty make a theological case for biomimicry, or fulfilling our original vocation of tending the earth by working according to the nature of Nature. The authors oppose this method of farming to the widespread and unsustainable practices of commercial agriculture, which involve wresting produce from the earth by force using chemical, technical, and genetic methods that significantly damage the land, animals, and our own bodies. Weaving together biblical principles, their personal experience with subsistence farming, and a helpful explanation of the science of well-managed grasslands, the Doughertys argue for Christians to take seriously their God-given vocation of caring for the earth. For most people, this vocation is “farmed out” to others; the authors ask us to consider whether enacting our vocation by proxy is good enough and if it is working. To both of these questions, they say the answer is “no.” Shawn and Beth Dougherty are the authors of The Independent Farmstead.
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In 2012, Ken Myers interviewed Fred Bahnson, co-author (with Norman Wirzba) of Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation (InterVarsity Press). This Feature is an extended cut of that conversation, in which Bahnson describes how (in the words of his book) “when we garden well, we do not only grow food for our bodies and flowers for our tables; we share in and extend God’s feeding, healing and sustaining ways with the world.”
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