Grant Wiley – Wendell Berry’s Christianity article (outside reading)


            After reading From Nature to Creation by Norman Wirzba, I decided to read some of Wendell Berry’s works to prepare for my final paper. I just finished his article about Christianity and Creation, and I thought it was great. Berry talks about the problem with modern Christians and their relationship to Creation. This mirrors much of what Wirzba said likely because Wirzba has focused his studies upon Wendell Berry. In simple terms, like Wirzba, Berry believes that the key to fixing this relationship is understanding the true biblical concept of love for creation. This mostly comes from Genesis 1:31 when God says that what he has created is very good. Additionally, Berry puts a focus on Genesis 2:7 where God creates human out of dust and his breath. He interprets this to mean that a living soul is made from material and immaterial and thus rejects the dualistic view of body and soul being material and immaterial, respectively. I plan to write my paper on Berry, and I am still trying to figure out exactly what I am going to focus on but hope to write something regarding his views on Christians and Creation. 

            I did some further research on Wendell Berry and found some interesting facts that related to some of my previous posts. Berry does not have a computer, smartphone, or any other type of digital technology. He handwrites his books and poems and later has his wife type them up. This situation has caused controversy as people think that Berry is using his wife, but he has explained that it is by her own choice. I think this relates well to my blogs on social media and technology because Berry seems to have a serious polemic against these things. I wouldn’t even go as far as to say that computers are harmful, but Berry certainly would. It seems that his lack of digital technology allows him to experience the world with more ease and it frees up his time to spend on walks and in prayer or Bible reading. In sum, it seems that Wirzba has come to some of the conclusions that he has because of Berry, and that Berry has a serious issue with digital technology and its corruption of the human race. 

-  April 20, 2021

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