New Agrarian Writings
From
Howard King

Dateline: 25 March 2016


(painting by Walt Curlee)

Every so often I take a few minutes and Google search "Howard King" to see if I might find something new from him on the internet. Howard King, for those who don't know, wrote about Christian agrarianism back in the mid 1990s. 

I learned about his writings from a couple sample issues of Patriarch magazine that were handed to me outside RFK Stadium in Washington DC, back in 1995.

I was a Christian and I was an agrarian back then, but I never put the two together, and Howard King's writings opened up a whole new way of thinking. In fact, I started this blog back in 2005 with the specific purpose of promoting the concept of Christian-agrarianism.

If, perchance, you are Christian who has never considered the biblical basis for Christian-agrarian culture, I recommend these original essays from Howard King:








And now... I'm pleased to say that I have found two relatively new essays by Howard King that anyone who is interested in Christian agrarianism will find to be well worth reading. The first is titled How a Biblical Agrarian Social Order Supports the Biblical Family, and the second is Cultural Confusion: A Critique of "Plowing in Hope" by David Bruce Hegemony.









4 comments:

Bill said...

Thanks for the links. I'm sure the essays will resonate with me. But thanks also for sharing the wonderful painting! I love it.

clint said...

Absolutely loving these writings. We have longed for a more agrarian lifestyle, but thus far the Lord has seen fit to keep us in a suburban rental. We know His timing is perfect, and are making an effort to bloom where we are planted (literally and figuratively) while waiting in faith for whatever the next step is. I do relate to the stress the industrial system places on the family. A worn-out, stressed husband and daddy is what we see a lot of around here -- and of course there is a "trickle down" effect. Hoping we can prayerfully read these articles together -- with an open heart to hear any new directions the Lord might speak. Thanks so much for linking to them, Herrick, as well as all the thought and heart you put into everything you do.

Herrick Kimball said...

Clint—
Thanks for the encouraging words. I can remember the years when my children were young and I was worn out and stressed, working a job to keep the bills paid. I was not home with my kids like I wished I could be. Fortunately, my wife stood in the gap. And, in time, things got better.

Times and seasons. Everyone's life journey is different. My advice to people who don't like where they are (in the clutches of the industrial machine), and who have a vision for a less worldly, more agrarian lifestyle is always the same...

Do the best you can, where you are, as the Lord leads you. Be content in that while working, saving, planning, praying and waiting for the next step to become more clear. One step at a time. Little by slow. If God gives you a vision for something that is good, and right, and in His will, He will guide you into the fulfillment of that vision. It probably will not happen as fast as you would like, and it may not end up exactly as you imagined it, but it will happen.

I believe that. And those are my encouraging words for you. :-)

clint said...

Thank you, Herrick. Those are wise words indeed, and encouraging ones.