Agriculture and Theology project

Susan Atkinson has just produced her new paper: “Bearing all their faults away” Scapegoats in Agriculture

Christopher Jones has now completed his major paper on Farmer/Government Relations and it can be downloaded here:

Farmer/Government Relations paper

Climate-Change Study Cites Role of Ancient Farming

This is an interesting article by David A. Fahrenthold in the Washington Post (Monday, September 28, 2009) looking at the work of William Ruddiman, whose “early anthropocene” idea puts human induced climate change back thousands of years.
Note- this does NOT mean that emissions today are unimportant- “Ruddiman said there is still a need to cap and reduce greenhouse gases, since modern smokestacks and tailpipes are pumping them out at a level that dwarfs anything from earlier eras.”

A new paper by John Wibberley in Rural Theology 6(2), 75-89, Issue 71, 2008.

ABSTRACT- The case for global climate change is made, with reference to current warming trends and consequent increases in the severity and unpredictability of the weather. Consensus is considerable that substantial contribution is made to it by human activity. Agriculture, including livestock production in particular, contributes its share to global warming. Agricultural implications may include suffering or gain from climate change depending upon where one is farming. In general, already marginal, food insecure areas will suffer most – notably in sub-Saharan Africa. Moral dilemmas are raised not only by the events resulting and likely to result from climate change but also from the actual and potential responses to it at both policy and personal levels. Practical responses to these realities are considered in the light of some basic theological reflections.

PDF of the full article

During the update of this web site, five articles from the previous incarnation of ATP, originating from the early 2000s, were uncovered, and we thought it worthwhile republishing them on-line:
Towards a Christian Response to Alternative Farming. (by Dr. Peter Carruthers)
http://www.agriculture-theology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/ChristianResponsetoAlternativeFarming.pdf
Agriculture and the world trade organisation. A briefing and conference held in Geneva in February 2003 (by Christopher Jones)
http://www.agriculture-theology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Geneva_2003.pdf
Farming Families in Crisis. A profile of the recipients of RABI and ARC-Addington Fund grants during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. (by Dr. Peter Carruthers)
http://www.agriculture-theology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Farming_Families_Crisis.pdf
Some Christian principles for farming and food production. (by Dr. Peter Carruthers)
http://www.agriculture-theology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/ChristianPrinciplesForFarming.pdf
Corporate power, people and the land. (by Christopher Jones and Dr. Peter Carruthers)
http://www.agriculture-theology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/CorporatePowerPeopleLand.pdf

Dear All,

As many of you will know, Hope for Planet Earth, the Christian climate change tour toured the UK, taking in a total of 35 venues in 2008 and 2009. The organisations behind the tour, The John Ray Initiative, Tearfund, A Rocha UK and SJI have now produced two DVD resource packs based on the tour materials which you can buy from SJI:

Hope for Planet Earth DVD for Churches. This has the four presenters and Sir John Houghton talking about various aspects of climate change, the PowerPoints from the tour, Sir John’s latest Climate Change briefing, Bible studies, sermon outlines and much more…..

Hope for Planet Earth DVD for Schools. This has material specially selected for schools (age 15 and above), and has lesson plans and other materials for teachers.

Both DVDs are on sale for £10.

Best Wishes,
Martin

Revealing Revelation: A Biblical ‘Green-print’ For Our Ecological Future by Oxford Brookes student, Lizzie Rushton, is an interesting article basically comparing the eschatological views of some North American fundamentalists, Margot Hodson, Dave Bookless and Tom Wright. Good read! See:

http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/revealing-revelation-a-bibl…

Best Wishes,

Martin