Overview
Norman Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He lectures frequently in Canada and the United States. His work focuses on understanding and promoting practices that can equip both rural and urban church communities to be more faithful and responsible members of creation. Current research is centered on a recovery of the doctrine of creation and a restatement of humanity in terms of its creaturely life.
Professor Wirzba has published The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight. His most recent books are Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating and (with Fred Bahnson) Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to Reconcile with Creation. He also has edited several books, including The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land and The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.
Professor Wirzba serves as general editor for the book series Culture of the Land: A Series in the New Agrarianism, published by the University Press of Kentucky, and is co-founder and executive committee member of the Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Major Reviews
Journal Article Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology · January 2024 Full text CiteNormanWirzba, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2022, 264pp. $29.00
Journal Article International Journal of Systematic Theology · January 2024 Full text CiteLove's Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis
Book · January 1, 2024 A moving exploration of the place of hope in the world today, drawing on agrarian principles In this series of meditations, Norman Wirzba recasts hope not as something people have, like a vaccine to prevent pain and trouble, but as something people do. Hop ... CiteRecent Grants
Considering Hope in an Anthropocene World
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Issachar Fund · 2021 - 2022Rethinking Humanity's Place in an Anthropocene World
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. · 2016 - 2022A Human Place in the World: A Human Place in the World
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Association of Theological Schools · 2014 - 2016View All Grants