Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell BerryMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
As a farmer, essayist, novelist, and poet, Wendell Berry has spent a lot of time writing about why human beings exist, and what they are to do with their time on this planet. He also points out huge differences between the original design for human society and the way society functions today.
Berry's essays demonstrate a holistic, Christian vision of God's design for how we should live our lives. He critiques American greed, materialism, and disregard of our land, and he calls us to be good stewards of our communities, our neighbors (including the elderly, children, and the unborn), our families, our land, and ourselves. He shows that when we live in harmony with God's design for human life on earth, it's beneficial not only for ourselves, but also for our community and for creation. Berry shows that the "good life" is much more about quality than it is about quantity. Most Americans, and certainly most American corporations, have it backwards.
Berry points out that love should be the ruling value of our lives: "I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness." Love for God should not be thought of as consisting only in a spiritual realm, but should actually influence everything we do in our day-to-day activities. Love should cause us to care holistically for our families, our fellow man, and for the land God created (and thus to consider its long-term welfare).
I might add that some essays were more interesting than others, at least to me. (I'm not as interested as I should be in some of the details about how forests "work.") In my opinion, "The Conservation of Nature and the Preservation of Humanity" and "Health is Membership" are the best essays here. It would be worth your time to get the book at your local library and read just these two essays.
All in all, this is simply an outstanding book.
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