Ecology of Eden Ch. 9: The Fiery Sword

     This chapter starts off by explaining how Canaanites fed themselves. A subclass of Canaanite farming is Israelite farming reminded me of the discussion in class about Dr. Redick's garden. The Israelites deforested their Mediterranean home with big animal-drawn plows. This was a different system than the previous farmers who used sheep and goats. Dr. Redick in class explained how he prefers to use his own hands to work his soil in preparation for planting. This method is preferable since it enables him to stay connected with the soil, worms, and bugs of that ecosystem. As farming progressed to the use of plows, people were less connected with the process of feeding themselves. This theme has progressed so much through human history that now some people don't even know what a cow looks like, though they consume cow products.

    Another point I've taken from this chapter is how ecology influences the farming, hunting, and gathering processes of the Israelites. In this chapter, Eisenberg writes "women might forage for pistachios, acorns, herbs, and other wild foods, the men hunt the gazelles and wild goats that still roamed the hills" (p. 89). Before refrigeration and transportation systems, people were at the complete whims of their ecosystem when it came to feeding themselves. The only food available to the Israelites were what they could harvest from the nature around them. This kept the Israelites closely tied to their environment because it was their life source. Whereas now, CNU students are less connected to, for example, the trees on the Noland trail, than the Israelites were connected to their ecosystem. While both are examples of nature, the Israelites were directly sustained by their interactions with nature. 

    A really powerful quote from Eisenberg is "If God is the heart of nature, then to say that we cannot stand pure God-head is to stay that we cannot stand pure wildness, except in small doses" (p. 93). This idea is illustrated by the complicated process that modern humans use to feed ourselves. We cannot stand to live in pure wilderness in part because we tame the wilderness for agriculture. We interact with a diluted version of wilderness. We also interact with a diluted version of God except for a few rare spiritual moments. A theme of this chapter seems to be alienation, from God and from nature. One way to combat this might be to spend more purposeful time in a nature.