User:Butlerblog/Christian Agrarianism

The Christian Agrarian movement became popular during the early part of the 21st century. Most adherents came to it out of the homeschooling movement, although others were predominantly part of the homesteading movement. It more or less peaked following the 2008 financial crisis, and has since merged into the broader homestead movement.

Background

Early Chrisitan agrarianism began in the first half of the twentieth century. The beginning of the movement is traced to the publishing of The Holy Earth by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1915.

The movement was predominantly Christian families leaving the cities and suburbs for a more rural and agrarian lifestyle.

Many self-proclaimed Christian Agrarians were led to the agrarian lifestyle by the writings of Wendell Berry, Gene Logsdon, and Joel Salatin. Many were primarily conservative Christians who saw a Biblical mandate for creation stewardship. In that area, they had more in common with liberal hippies than they did suburban church-going Republicans. As Wendell Berry put it, "In its de facto alliance with Caesar, Christianity connives directly in the murder of Creation."

As a relatively decentralized and informal movement, Christian Agrarians were brought together primarily through blogging, which was in its early stages as the Christian agrarian movement began. One particular blogger, Rick Saenz, writing Dry Creek Chronicles, took it upon himself to tour the country to do in-person interviews and farm/homestead tours of various Christian Agrarians. He released a series of recordings known as "Plain Talk."