Plundered
The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice
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- $30.99
Publisher Description
<p>Two of the world's greatest crises, systemic racism and environmental destruction, share the same origin story. The two are rooted in economic forces that exploit and oppress both people and land.</p><p>Pastor David Swanson showshow we have failed our God-given duty as caretakers of creation and how that failure has resulted in the exploitation of people and the extraction of natural resources. Racial and ecological injustice share the same root cause—greed—that turns peopleand the natural world into commodities that are only valued for their utility. Yet Christians have the capacity to live in a way that nurtures racial and environmental justice simultaneously, honoring people and places in dynamic relationship with our Creator God. Swanson shows how we can become communities of caretakers, the way to restore our relationship with creation and each other, and the holistic justice that can result.</p>
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Systemic racism and environmental degradation "share the same tangled origins: greed and its ravenous manifestation, theft," according to this enlightening treatise from pastor Swanson (Rediscipling the White Church). In the author's view, a "theology of extraction"—the notion that "everything from microbes to metals," in the words of theologian Willie Jennings, exists in terms of its "value for us"—underpins Western attitudes toward the earth and its inhabitants. The result is relentless fracking, mining, and drilling, along with "exploitation of people" via capitalistic systems that leverage the labor of poorer people, often minorities, for gain. Calling on Christians to reclaim "our unique vocation as caretakers," Swanson recommends cultivating community spaces (such as neighborhood gardens) that bring people together; keeping the sabbath to "relearn... harmony with creation"; and founding Christian communities "committed to becom naturalized to their places." While the author acknowledges such solutions might feel flimsy in the face of such far-ranging crises, his insight that small, committed communities are the starting point for systemic change is trenchant, and his theological and historical grounding (including discussions of the Great Migration and the theft of Native American–owned land) provides plenty of thought-provoking material to inspire further research. The result is a nuanced and ambitious take on the links between two pressing societal issues.
