by Eva Stimson , for Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE -- March 11, 2003 [posted here 3-17-03] -- War with Iraq, struggling farmers, fragmented families -- in the mind of Kentucky farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry, they're all related, all symptoms of a world in which "people have selected violent solutions as the norm."

Berry, an award-winning poet and essayist and author of more than 30 books, was the featured speaker during a March 6-8 gathering here sponsored by the Witherspoon Society. The meeting, billed as "a major conference on the future of the progressive witness in the Presbyterian Church (USA)," marked the 30th anniversary of this organization of Presbyterians at the liberal end of the theological spectrum.

More than 120 people crowded into a 12th-floor hotel meeting room downtown to hear Berry, a tall, white-haired gentleman with elegant diction, respond to questions and share pithy comments on religion, economics and sustainable living.

A few excerpts:

On shopping at supermarket chains: "We live in an age of divorce, and not just of husbands and wives. We're divorced from our groceries. If you buy your food from Kroger, you don't know where it came from and at what human cost. We're willing to go into this intimate situation in which we eat creatures we don't know."

On developing local food supply systems: "We've got to reassume economic responsibility. Quit living by proxy. Ask a neighbor, ''What can I do for you?' Ask a farmer, ''Can I get food from you?' Begin to replace abstract services with actual people. Replace unknown substances that we eat with known substances."

On the divorce of utility and beauty: "We are a society that thinks if a thing is useful, it has a right to be ugly. In this hotel we have picture windows so we can look out on a scene of rather startling ugliness."

On technology that dominates contemporary life: "It's inescapable. It's like original sin; we're in it. The best we can do is hope for grace and forgiveness." Berry, who lives on a farm in eastern Kentucky, admitted that he and his wife each have a vehicle, "because everything we want is far away. We have to drive 20 to 30 miles to get a haircut. ... You're always going to be involved in compromises."

On television: "If you would welcome a seducer, a known swindler, a liar, and a person convicted of violent crimes into your living room, then you'll be completely comfortable having a television." (Berry doesn't.)

On the need for forgiveness: "I'm a man who enjoys animosity. I like the high you get from feeling wronged and above somebody else. But it's a hole you get into ---- and when you get to the bottom, there's nobody there."

On the importance of community: "You can't have community among people who don't need each other for anything. If you believe it's better not to be known, for people not to know your business, you will suffer the consequences. Nobody will know if you're sick or hungry."

Interfaith relations was the topic of another speaker at the conference. Joe Hough, the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, made an address on "a Christian theology of religious pluralism."

Participants also heard Jack Rogers' reflections on his experience as moderator of the 2001 General Assembly, and presentations by Doug Ottati, a professor at Union/PSCE in Richmond, VA, and Mary Fulkerson, a professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN, on the vigor of the progressive, prophetic vision in the Presbyterian Church.

[2-6-03]

Wendell Berry, a farmer, essayist, and novelist, is one of the most influential cultural and ecological figures in contemporary society writers. His essay, "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear," written in response to the September 11 attacks was first published on OrionOnline and has since been reprinted in at least ten languages, in publications that reach seventy-five countries, and on over one thousand different websites. (Including this website!) A subsequent book, In the Presence of Fear: Three Essays for a Changed World, is beginning its fourth printing in just fifteen months.

A memo from the publisher continues:

The new essay by Mr. Berry is the cover article for our upcoming March/April 2003 issue (due out in mid February) of Orion, entitled, "A Citizen¹s Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America." Several months in the writing, this major work by one of our nation¹s finest writers will be appearing at a momentous juncture in American history, where imminent decisions are to be made regarding the preemptive use of military force against Iraq, and how America¹s unrivaled power will be exercised in the future.

To this end, we have taken the unprecedented step of working with Mr. Berry on a version of the essay for simultaneous publication (with the magazine) as a full-page weekday advertisement in Section A of The New York Times, due to be printed in the coming week, the week of February 10th-14th. In addition to the abridged essay, the ad will direct the Times' 1.3 million readers to our website for free downloads of the full article on OrionOnline, as well as for free copies of the magazine itself. The text can be easily forwarded around the world, which we encourage.

In the Presence of Fear and subscriptions to Orion magazine are available directly through The Orion Society: contact Karen Gagne toll-free 888/909-6568.