The Grace of Good Food and the Call to Good Farming

Abstract

This essay argues that a good and faithful agriculture, and the healthy eating practices made possible by it, should play a vital role in the healing of creation. The interconnectedness of ecological problems means that if we get our eating right, much other environmental good will follow. What good eating and good agriculture look like are developed in terms of God's own example as the One who plants and gardens the world. Today's industrial agriculture and our culture's obsession with cheap and convenient food are shown to lie behind much of the world's degradation and economic injustice. I suggest that Christians can play an important role in the healing and celebration of creation by participating in God's caring, gardening ways with the world, and that we can do this most effectively in the eating we choose to do. Churches should take a leading role in the promotion of a God-honoring agriculture and in the advocacy of economic and political priorities that serve the well being of all creation's eaters.