—Stewardculture—A Christian-Agrarian Magazine!

Dateline: 28 October 2015

Issue #2

I found out yesterday that there is a "new" Christian-agrarian magazine. Four issues have already been published, but I just found out, so it's new to me. 

Stewardculture does not identify itself as a "Christian-agrarian" publication, but it appears to be written for Christians who feel a calling to farm, garden, and otherwise work the earth in a responsible, contra-industrial way.

The magazine is published online. It's very well done. It's free. I encourage you to check it out at this link: Stewardculture Magazine.

Issue #1

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Seeing this new magazine, coupled with the newly published book, Organic Wesley, has me thinking that the Christian-agrarian "movement" is growing. Or, at least, one important element of the movement is visibly taking more shape and getting a "voice." That is, the aspect of proper land stewardship and the ethical production of food by people who have a Biblical worldview.

There is, however, a second important aspect to the Christian-agrarian path, or so it seems to me, and that is the matter of separation from the ungodly industrialized culture we live in. While proper stewardship of the earth should be important to Christian-agrarians, so too should be the matter of separation.

Clearly, personal involvement of Christians in ethical land stewardship is a degree of separation, but I think there is much more to this biblical and agrarian mandate. 

Take, for example, the matter of debt. Should Christian-agrarians assume usury-debt in their mandate to steward the land? And what of materialism, which is an important aspect of the industrial culture. Should the Christian-agrarian ethic reflect a high level of materialistic accumulation and consumption beyond what is needed to properly steward the land? What about the education of children and our choice of vocation? What about the Christian-agrarian view of modern medicine?

Hmmm. I think the Christian-and-agrarian ethic can and should address such questions (and others), but these things can be much more difficult than land stewardship to parse and definitively resolve to everyone's satisfaction. 

So, it may not be necessary (or wise) to "officially" propound Christian-agrarian ethics beyond proper stewardship of the earth. However, I do think that the matter of deliberate separation, especially from industrial-world dependencies and cultural expectations, should be an important part of the thought process (and actions) of all Christians who embrace the concept of ethical stewardship of the land.