Food And Faith – Norman Wirzba (1)

Wherever the water is, however, it is being depleted, diverted, squandered, or polluted. Nearly 70 percent of freshwater withdrawal is for agricultural purposes, which means that “Agriculture is a thirsty business.”34 As the need for increased food production continues, ever greater amounts of water will be necessary. The water is simply not there. Glaciers are receding, underground aquifers are being depleted at unsustainable rates, and many of the world’s major rivers (the Colorado, Nile, Ganges, and Yellow rivers) periodically run dry before they reach their ocean destinations.

Nearly 60 percent of the world’s major rivers are now dammed or fragmented in some significant way, often for power generation or to create reservoirs for agriculture and recreation. Because so many of our waterways have been diverted or dammed, the immense forests, fields, and watersheds/wetlands that depend on water flow are compromised. These water stresses invariably work themselves out on the political stage. It is projected that by the year 2025, 65 percent of the world’s people will be living in water-stressed countries. All this will occur in a context where the worldwide demand for water will double by the year 2050.

Besides being a recipe for ecological and agricultural catastrophe (the Green Revolution is heavily dependent on irrigation), water shortages will lead to violent conflict and forced migrations as people grow thirsty, hungry, and desperate.35 It is not only freshwater systems we need to worry about. Ocean fisheries are also in serious distress. Many fishing grounds (estimated by some at 75 percent) have been fished to exhaustion. If current trends continue, scientists predict that by the year 2050 all commercial ocean fisheries will collapse.

As Speth points out, however, our marine problems are not confined to overfish- ing. Coastal pollution, the destruction of mangroves, and the bleaching of coral reefs (due to global warming) are all taking a major destructive toll. For many people, fish are the major source of food and aquaculture a primary means of life. If people hope to continue to eat fish for long, various forms of sustainable aquaculture will need to develop quickly to meet the need.36 Bourne, The End of Plenty, 205.

Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World, 32–33. Speth’s treatment has been very informative throughout this section. See also Fred Pearce’s When the Rivers Run Dry: Water – The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 2007), and Peter H. Gleick’s The World’s Water 2006–2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2006). Bourne describes some of these efforts in The End of Plenty, 165–181.

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631846.007 Published online by Cambridge University Press Genetic Diversity and Integrity An examination of the plant variety in today’s typical diet reveals a dramatic shrinking of the gene pool. According to the FAO, humans can eat roughly 30,000 plant species. Ten thousand or so have been eaten at some time.

This book provides a comprehensive theological framework for assessing the significance of eating. Drawing on diverse theological, philosophical, and anthro- pological insights, it offers fresh ways to evaluate food production and consump- tion practices as they are being worked out in today’s industrial food economy. Unlike books that focus primarily on vegetarianism and hunger-related con- cerns, this book broadens the scope of consideration to include the sacramental character of eating, the deep significance of hospitality, the meaning of death and sacrifice, the Eucharist as the place of inspiration and orientation, the import- ance of saying grace, and the possibility of eating in heaven.

Throughout, eating is presented as a way of enacting fidelity between persons, between people and fellow creatures, and between people and Earth. Food and Faith demonstrates that eating is of profound economic, moral, and spiritual significance. Revised throughout, this edition includes a new introduction and two new chapters, as well as updated footnotes. The additions add significantly to the core idea of creaturely membership and hospitality through discussion of the micro- biome revolution in science, and the daunting challenge of the Anthropocene.

Norman Wirzba is Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, and a senior fellow at Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics. His first edition of Food and Faith was named “Book of the Year” by the Englewood Review of Books, and earned “Honorable Mention” in the 2011 PROSE Award. Wirzba’s other books include From Nature to Creation, Way of Love, Making Peace with the Land, Living the Sabbath, and The Paradise of God, and he is the editor for a book series on the “New Agrarianism.”

Published online by Cambridge University Press Published online by Cambridge University Press Food and Faith A Theology of Eating Second Edition norman wirzba Duke University Published online by Cambridge University Press University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108455961 doi: 10.1017/9781108631846 First edition © Norman Wirzba 2011 Second edition © Cambridge University Press 2019 This publication is in copyright.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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