Ecological Forgiveness and Hope

For class this coming Sunday, since we were unable to meet last week, we’ll plan again to discuss Norman Wirzba’s chapter in his book Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land, titled “Learning to Hope.” In it, he writes: “Descriptions of forgiveness normally center on personal and social realms. Helpful as these descriptions are, I do not think they go far enough. If the harms people do extend to the land, water, and air, along with the many creatures that inhabit them, then we should also seek forgiveness from them. But can the land forgive? What might it look like to seek forgiveness from fellow creatures? (p. 181)…To seek forgiveness from others is to acknowledge that they and the relationships we have with them are vital to the maintenance of a meaningful and praiseworthy life. To seek forgiveness from the land is to affirm that our lives cannot be healthy apart from the fertility and vigor of the places, creatures, and communities that nurture us” (p. 194).