Free-Range Religion: Alternative Food Movements and Religious Life in the United States

Krone, an associate professor of environmental science at Allegheny College, debuts with a lively ethnographic study of how faith communities across the U.S. are reshaping the ways Americans eat. Religious groups have long influenced agriculture, from Jewish immigrants establishing diasporic versions of kibbutzim to Christian farmers raising livestock in sustainable ways to honor God’s creation. Drawing on ethnographic research from across the country, Krone highlights how different faith-based food initiatives have melded religious and secular influences: Christian cattle farmer Mac Baldwin raises livestock via biblical philosophy that centers the sanctity of nature (the beef is grass-fed and antibiotic-free), but sustains his business through partnerships with a halal Muslim slaughterhouse and secular grocers, while Baltimore’s Pearlstone Center employs “ancient Jewish agricultural practices” while furthering interfaith agricultural educational programs for Jews and non-Jews. Krone calls attention to rituals such as shmita, the Judaic practice of letting the land lie fallow for one year, in her argument that religious agrarianism challenges the exploitative logic that undergirds industrial agriculture. At the same time, she acknowledges the compromises farmers must make to adhere to market realities (for example, Baldwin mutes his overtly Christian messaging for retailers). The result is an intriguing window into the complex intersections between food production and faith in America. (Nov.)