Community Supported Agriculture Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Pape

Community Supported Agriculture In the past few decades, Christians have gradually and increasingly acknowledged that human relationship to the natural world should be included in theology. However, this theology has still enjoyed only limited development and acceptance (Cobb 82). Humanity needs to further its understanding of itself as an integral constituent of creation, rather than seeing itself as above, below or outside creation. According to the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Bible, humanity is an inextricable part of nature. In the Genesis creation story, God forms humans (adam) from humus (adamah), making them true earth-creatures (Guengerich 15). Because God created all things, all things in the world are in relationship, both human and non-human. When Christians realize their oneness with creation, they need to develop and practice an ethical response to ecology as well as a theological one. Such an ethic of ecojustice grows directly out of a theology that takes the natural world into full consideratio n. James Martin-Schramm's 1996 essay "Toward an Ethic of EcoJustice" provides a helpful framework for understanding a Christian ethical response to creation. Martin-Schramm says ecojustice is closely tied to the concepts of equity and distributive justice (209). He identifies four moral norms of ecojustice that have been discussed by the World Council of Churches in its assemblies since 1975: sustainability, sufficiency, participation and solidarity (Martin-Schramm 209). All four principles have roots in Christian theology. Sustainability is concerned with the long-term and holistic survival of the planet and its populations, including humans. It means that immediate economic growth is less important than deve... ...e Press, 1987. Logsdon, Gene. At Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994. Martin-Schramm, James. "Toward an Ethic of EcoJustice." Paul T. Jersild, et al ed. Moral Issues and Christian Response. 6th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. Eugene, Ore. Online. Internet. http://www.efn.org/~ncap. Platt, LaVonne Godwin. "Responding to our Rural Crisis." LaVonne Godwin Platt, ed. Hope for the Family Farm: trust God and care for the land. Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press, 1987. Van En, Robyn, Liz Manes and Cathy Roth. Community Supported Agriculture of North America at the University of Massachusetts Extension. "What is Community Supported Agriculture and How Does It Work?" 29 July, 1997. Online. Internet. http://www.umass.edu/umext/csa/about.html.