Theological and Religious Approaches to Soil Stewardship - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 287

religious influence or indirect cultural shaping, these principles affect perspectives
on land stewardship and supply values upon which stewardship practices are often
based, especially in religiously influenced communities (Kanagy and Nelsen 1995).
12.2.1 H umans and s oil in B iBlical c reation n arratives
An example of basic religious principles that connect humans to soil is found in the
creation narratives of the Hebrew Bible, setting a frame for Jewish and Christian under-
standing of the role of humans on Earth. In the creation story in the first chapter of the
book of Genesis, light and dark, night and day, heavens and earth, and sea and land are
created and ordered as the fecund matrix from which plants and all creatures are brought
forth, including humans (' adam , humanity, both male and female). The earth brings forth
plants and all manner of creatures, the seas bring forth fish, and God blesses creatures to
be fruitful and multiply (Gn 1:22,28). Dominion over Earth and its creatures is granted to
humans as God's image-bearers; humans are to be stewards of God's very good creation,
while at the same time being kin with the other creatures God has blessed.
The second creation story in chapter 2 of Genesis develops further on this story,
with even more particular attention to the imprint of soil on humanity. Here, the human
(' adam ) is formed from the soil (' adamah ), the dust of the ground; the wordplay of
the Hebrew parallels human from humus , or earthling from Earth . “The 'adamah ,
the material for 'adam , is not just any old ground, it is the soil of arable cropland,
good farmland” (Fick 2008). In addition to identifying human substance with the
soil, the second chapter of Genesis also declares the role of humans as caretakers of
the creation. God places 'adam in the garden of Eden to cultivate ( abad ) and protect
( shamar ) it, and thus in these sacred stories, humans are given a fundamental vocation
as gardeners (Gn 2:15; Pollan 1991). Humans will prove themselves poor listeners to
God's instructions, however, and the third chapter of Genesis tells the story of human
estrangement from God. As a result, the ground ( 'adamah ) is cursed (Gn 3:17), and
'adam must obtain their food from it by toil and sweat (Gn 3:19). In estrangement,
humans have become mortal, and in physical death, they return to 'adamah , the ground
from which they and other living things were made (Gn 3:19). The biblical analogy is
that we are made from the same kind of soil that produces our food, and we return to
this source in our death. With this interpretation, the soil-food-life connection of the
Bible runs deep, right down to the rudiments of the nutrient cycle (Fick 2008).
In the following biblical chapters, humanity fails to fulfill its potential, filling the
Earth with violence rather than protecting the Earth's fruitfulness (Gn 6:5) and caus-
ing God to decide to wipe out wicked humanity with the flood. Only Noah, one who
obeyed God's instructions and who is described as “a man of the soil” (Gn 9:20), is
saved along with his family. Noah faithfully tends to the call to protect all the crea-
tures by building an ark, and following the flood, Noah and his family are reminded
alongside the other creatures to be fruitful and multiply (Gn 9:1,7). In this resetting
of human origins, Noah's family is not recharged with having dominion, and God
promises never again to curse the ground. Through Noah, future generations are
given assurance that the Earth's cycles of seasons and seedtime and harvest will not
fail—humans can rely on the provision of the Earth without fearing another deluge
from God (Gn 8:21-22).