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Paper
Abstract
Born in 1934, Wendell Berry is a well-known poet, novelist, and essayist from rural Henry County, Kentucky. Berry moved away from his family’s farm as a young man and experienced success in his writing and teaching career, until, in 1965, he gave up a prestigious position at New York University to return to and work the farm. He is a farmer as well as an accomplished author, having written well over fifty publications including books of poems, volumes of essays, series of novels, and collections of short stories. His work has earned many prestigious awards, including the National Humanities Medal (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2010), the Poets’ Prize (Nicholas Roerich Museum, 2000), and The Dean’s Cross for Servant Leadership in Church and Society (Virginia Theological Seminary, 2014).
The major themes woven throughout Berry’s writings include the importance of physical place, community, human flourishing, and appropriate scale, all vital considerations to those working to develop creation from a Christian perspective. Berry is well-known for choosing to live a more traditional life, intentionally forgoing many modern conveniences. Throughout his work, Berry also shines a light on the past, discussing how our culture moved from primarily agrarian to a post-industrial revolution society, giving valuable context to our work and lives. Berry is perhaps most recognized for emphasizing humanity’s connection to the land, focusing on direct stewardship and responsibility for creation. His agrarian worldview often underscores humanity in terms of creaturely life, respecting limits and celebrating life in community.
In his essays, Berry uses prose to champion strong communities and generational wisdom, and to critique what he calls modern, mechanized life. Berry also uses his writings to answer the historical questions of what happened, such as: What happened to rural communities? What happened to small farms and local economies? What happened to the agrarian-centric cultural mindset? Berry often explains how economic and political developments impacted the real people living and working in rural areas. Through the lens of someone who values place, community, and appropriate technology, we can learn about and consider the impact of major forces like the Industrial Revolution, World War II, and even something as nebulous as widespread adoption of the tractor. Along with Berry, we can also ponder the effects of cultural changes, such as what it means for our society to compensate work with an hourly wage, how the normalization of debt and financing impacted work and communities, and the real costs and benefits of consolidating schools.
In his novels and short stories, Berry writes of a community located in the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. The most powerful stories are written from the perspective of an elderly main character, looking back at his or her lifetime and giving account, with wisdom and perspective sprinkled throughout. This narrative device is an effective method of reminding readers of the changes that can and will happen throughout a lifetime: circumstances will not always stay the same, people will move in and out of our lives, and we ourselves will change as we age and grow and live through all the stages of life. In this way, Berry’s work can widen the context to include not only a physical place but also the span of an entire lifetime, and help us to remember the big picture: our stories begin and end, interwoven with the stories of others and nestled inside God’s grand story of redemption.
In his poetry, Berry writes beautifully along his common themes of people, land, and community. In a well-loved series of poems, Berry utilizes a character referred to as the “mad farmer.” The narrative of the mad farmer is that in a society that is frantically chasing wealth and power and motivated by greed, someone that is heartily sane will appear to be the insane one, or “mad.” In Berry’s famous poem, Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, he begins by critiquing the modern mindset, then calls readers to action through seemingly contradictory directives. He says, “So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute,” then gives examples such as: “Work for nothing.” “Ask the questions that have no answers.” “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” And then, his resolute closing instruction: “Practice resurrection.” [1]
This manifesto with its ridiculous advice reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1:18, where Paul writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” To those chasing the temporary satisfaction of quick profits, material goods, or collections of personal experiences, the greatest commandment directing us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength,” and then the second: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” might seem like nothing but foolishness, but as Christians, we know our satisfaction comes from work well done in service to God.
It may seem contradictory to look to someone who is known to eschew modern conveniences as inspiration for engineers, but Wendell Berry provides a thought-provoking perspective that is beneficial for all people to engage, perhaps especially Christians, and perhaps even more especially those Christians who are actively working to develop creation through the art of engineering. Christian engineers are called to act as God’s agents of restoration, working to cultivate and keep creation, design holistically, and nurture a practice of responsible engineering [2]. By reading the words of Wendell Berry, we can be better prepared to recognize – and even appreciate – limits, standards, and boundaries, better understand what it means to be a steward of creation, and widen the context of our work and lives.
Perhaps we can be emboldened by Berry’s fictional mad farmer and become mad engineers, wholeheartedly working to both cultivate and keep creation, even if we appear foolish. Our manifesto, then, as inspired by Berry’s work, might include directives such as: recognize and respect limits, count the intangible costs and benefits, love your place, and, along with the mad farmers, practice resurrection.
In this paper, I will reflect on the main themes of Berry’s writings as summarized in the mad engineer directives, discuss how they may be helpful to Christian engineers as we strive to serve responsibly and faithfully, and give examples of application in case studies along the way.
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What Engineers Can Learn from Wendell Berry
Born in 1934, Wendell Berry is a well-known poet, novelist, and essayist from rural Henry County, Kentucky. Berry moved away from his family’s farm as a young man and experienced success in his writing and teaching career, until, in 1965, he gave up a prestigious position at New York University to return to and work the farm. He is a farmer as well as an accomplished author, having written well over fifty publications including books of poems, volumes of essays, series of novels, and collections of short stories. His work has earned many prestigious awards, including the National Humanities Medal (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2010), the Poets’ Prize (Nicholas Roerich Museum, 2000), and The Dean’s Cross for Servant Leadership in Church and Society (Virginia Theological Seminary, 2014).
The major themes woven throughout Berry’s writings include the importance of physical place, community, human flourishing, and appropriate scale, all vital considerations to those working to develop creation from a Christian perspective. Berry is well-known for choosing to live a more traditional life, intentionally forgoing many modern conveniences. Throughout his work, Berry also shines a light on the past, discussing how our culture moved from primarily agrarian to a post-industrial revolution society, giving valuable context to our work and lives. Berry is perhaps most recognized for emphasizing humanity’s connection to the land, focusing on direct stewardship and responsibility for creation. His agrarian worldview often underscores humanity in terms of creaturely life, respecting limits and celebrating life in community.
In his essays, Berry uses prose to champion strong communities and generational wisdom, and to critique what he calls modern, mechanized life. Berry also uses his writings to answer the historical questions of what happened, such as: What happened to rural communities? What happened to small farms and local economies? What happened to the agrarian-centric cultural mindset? Berry often explains how economic and political developments impacted the real people living and working in rural areas. Through the lens of someone who values place, community, and appropriate technology, we can learn about and consider the impact of major forces like the Industrial Revolution, World War II, and even something as nebulous as widespread adoption of the tractor. Along with Berry, we can also ponder the effects of cultural changes, such as what it means for our society to compensate work with an hourly wage, how the normalization of debt and financing impacted work and communities, and the real costs and benefits of consolidating schools.
In his novels and short stories, Berry writes of a community located in the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. The most powerful stories are written from the perspective of an elderly main character, looking back at his or her lifetime and giving account, with wisdom and perspective sprinkled throughout. This narrative device is an effective method of reminding readers of the changes that can and will happen throughout a lifetime: circumstances will not always stay the same, people will move in and out of our lives, and we ourselves will change as we age and grow and live through all the stages of life. In this way, Berry’s work can widen the context to include not only a physical place but also the span of an entire lifetime, and help us to remember the big picture: our stories begin and end, interwoven with the stories of others and nestled inside God’s grand story of redemption.
In his poetry, Berry writes beautifully along his common themes of people, land, and community. In a well-loved series of poems, Berry utilizes a character referred to as the “mad farmer.” The narrative of the mad farmer is that in a society that is frantically chasing wealth and power and motivated by greed, someone that is heartily sane will appear to be the insane one, or “mad.” In Berry’s famous poem, Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, he begins by critiquing the modern mindset, then calls readers to action through seemingly contradictory directives. He says, “So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute,” then gives examples such as: “Work for nothing.” “Ask the questions that have no answers.” “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” And then, his resolute closing instruction: “Practice resurrection.” [1]
This manifesto with its ridiculous advice reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1:18, where Paul writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” To those chasing the temporary satisfaction of quick profits, material goods, or collections of personal experiences, the greatest commandment directing us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength,” and then the second: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” might seem like nothing but foolishness, but as Christians, we know our satisfaction comes from work well done in service to God.
It may seem contradictory to look to someone who is known to eschew modern conveniences as inspiration for engineers, but Wendell Berry provides a thought-provoking perspective that is beneficial for all people to engage, perhaps especially Christians, and perhaps even more especially those Christians who are actively working to develop creation through the art of engineering. Christian engineers are called to act as God’s agents of restoration, working to cultivate and keep creation, design holistically, and nurture a practice of responsible engineering [2]. By reading the words of Wendell Berry, we can be better prepared to recognize – and even appreciate – limits, standards, and boundaries, better understand what it means to be a steward of creation, and widen the context of our work and lives.
Perhaps we can be emboldened by Berry’s fictional mad farmer and become mad engineers, wholeheartedly working to both cultivate and keep creation, even if we appear foolish. Our manifesto, then, as inspired by Berry’s work, might include directives such as: recognize and respect limits, count the intangible costs and benefits, love your place, and, along with the mad farmers, practice resurrection.
In this paper, I will reflect on the main themes of Berry’s writings as summarized in the mad engineer directives, discuss how they may be helpful to Christian engineers as we strive to serve responsibly and faithfully, and give examples of application in case studies along the way.