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Seed That Falls on Fertile Ground (Matthew 13:1–9): Catholic Higher Education and the Renewal of Agrarianism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Elizabeth Groppe*
Affiliation:
Xavier University

Abstract

Agriculture in the United States today faces myriad challenges, including soil erosion, biodiversity loss, climate change, water shortages, dependence on harmful chemicals, and a breach in the intergenerational transmission of agricultural knowledge. The scope and scale of the agricultural problems facing our nation today are an indication that we need a new culture of the ager (“field” in Latin)—a fundamentally new way of understanding and enacting our relationship to the land and the production of food. Catholic colleges and universities can make a vital contribution to this renewal through new agrarian curricular and research programs grounded in Catholicism's sacramental epistemology, analogical metaphysics, interdisciplinary search for wisdom, and respect for the spiritual significance of agricultural and manual labor. In turn, the incorporation of agrarian practice, education, and research within Catholic institutions of higher education can contribute to the education of the whole person that is fundamental to Catholic pedagogy, the cultivation of the virtue of humility, and the enrichment of Catholic liturgical practice and Catholic culture.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © College Theology Society 2015 

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106 The Sustainable Agriculture Education Association identifies seven private liberal arts colleges that offer degrees in sustainable agriculture, none of which are Catholic. See http://sustainableaged.org/Projects/AcademicPrograms/tabid/86/Default.aspx.

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129 Ibid.

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