Towards a dialogue of sustainable agriculture and end-times theology in the United States: insights from the historical ecology of nineteenth century millennial communes

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Fisher, Chelsea (author) and Department of Anthropology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, USA
    Format:
    Online journal article
    Publication Date:
    2018-07-09
    URL:
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-018-9874-4
    Published:
    Springer Netherlands
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: D10126
    Journal Title:
    Agriculture and Human Values
    Journal Title Details:
    35(4) : 791–807
    Subject Term:
    communication barriers, environmental communication, farmers' attitudes, land use planning, religion, scientific communication, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, landscape, rural community, ecology, historical research, interdisciplinary research, communication strategies, climate change, communal organizations, environmental science, and interdisciplinary communication
    Notes:
    17 pages., Print ISSN: 0889-048X Online ISSN: 1572-8366, Via online journal., Almost one-third of all U.S. Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in the next 40 years, thereby signaling the end of the world. The prevalence of this end-times theology has meant that sustainability initiatives are often met with indifference, resistance, or even hostility from a significant portion of the American population. One of the ways that the scientific community can respond to this is by making scientific discourse, particularly as related to sustainability, more palatable to end-times believers. In this paper, I apply a historical–ecological framework, which emphasizes the interdisciplinary study of landscapes to understand long-term human–environment interactions, to three millennial religious groups that formed communes in nineteenth century America. The Shakers, Inspirationalists, and Mormons all blended deep beliefs in end-times theology with agricultural practices that were arguably more sustainable than those in use in the mainstream, and their ability to reconcile eschatology with sustainability provides us with potential lessons. By examining the history, doctrines, and agroecology of these nineteenth century communes, I propose communication strategies based in autonomy, institutional support, multigenerational narratives, and anthropocentricism as potential pathways for a more productive dialogue between advocates of sustainability initiatives and end-times believers in the modern United States.

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