Fruit of the Earth and Work of Human Hands: Connecting the Eucharist and Regenerative Agriculture

Abstract

Engaging the writings of Bernard Lonergan, Charles Massy, and Pope Francis, this article offers a systematic exposition of the relationship between the Eucharist and regenerative agriculture. First, it surveys the overlapping cultural malaises identified by Massy, Francis, and Lonergan at the root of modern industrial agriculture. Second, in response to this form of decline, it shows how the regenerative agricultural practices called for by Massy instantiate the integral ecology called for by Pope Francis; at the same time, it substantiates Massy’s calls through the emergently probable worldview of Lonergan. Third, in a way that Massy does not show, such a worldview can elevate these agricultural concerns to a supernatural, redemptive plane. Not only does an emergently probable worldview show that right agricultural practices restore creation’s capacity to praise, so too does it show that Christian praise—as made especially apparent in the Eucharist—depends upon just agricultural practices.