Ecology as relational reconciliation

Abstract

The path toward correcting the ecological situation is the recovery of a defining narrative to provide a direction through reconciliation between ourselves and God, the land, and within our communities. The disordered relationship between the producer and consumer and between the urban and rural communities has left those in agriculture economically vulnerable to the point that the most pressing challenge is not the sustainability of fertile soil but the existence of people to care for these soils. The path toward large-scale correction of the ecological crisis must be through reconciliation between the urban and rural to support the existence of the farmer, which ultimately requires a complete reimagining of our economy. There are practical steps that can be taken in both policy and practice to begin to bring reconciliation within God’s created order.