Christ and agriculture: Toward a theologically useful understanding of the crisis of American agriculture utilizing the theologies of culture of H. Richard Niebuhr, Martin Luther, and St. Paul

In the midst of the 1980s the crisis of agriculture, so-called, was full-blown. This dissertation asks, "Whatever happened to the farm crisis, anyway?," and sees the answer as involving not only "political" but especially, "theological" concerns. This is done by establishing a series of "useful" definitions of "agriculture," "culture," "crisis," "Christ" and "Church" that move from diagnosis to prognosis. Of particular interest for shaping the question is the experience of the farm crisis as a "persistent problem of missed opportunity.".;Chapt. 1 seeks to develop a useful definition of agriculture as "culture" as opposed to mere business or eco-endeavor. It correspondingly defines the farm crisis as a "crisis of culture." The rest of the dissertation builds on this finding by way of a theology of culture rooted in the law/gospel theology of Luther and Paul. Chapt. 2 draws on Luther's notion of the political function of the law to define "culture" as the Creator's web of accountability. Chapt. 3 draws on Luther's notion of the theological function of the law to define "cultural crisis" as the Creator's call to repentance. Since repentance is fundamentally impossible for people to do--repentance means death, the foreclosure of one's stewardship--people naturally resist making proper, penitential use of crisis: hence, crisis as a persistent problem of missed opportunity. Chapt. 4 draws on Luther's theology of the cross to define "Christ" as our "Co-steward". Only "in Christ" is penitential dying possible because only "in Christ" can death lead to life. The Epilogue defines the "Church," Christ's co-steward, as the world's "salvational advocate." It briefly explores the significance of Church as penitential remnant and the promise that such an undertaking as repentance might have for contemporary agriculture, all by way of encouraging the Church in this penitential ministry.