Religion and Agriculture

Religion and Agriculture

Author: J. Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: lindsay falvey

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0975100025

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Religion is a powerful expression of culture that is most obviously expressed in our relationships with nature. As our major meeting point with nature is food, this provides a fertile field for cultivating the wisdom that Professor Falvey concludes is the essence of all sustainability. By bringing sustainability, agriculture, global issues, Buddhism, Christianity and a host of other factors into play, we see that our motivations belie our rhetoric -- in environmental actions through to trade and aid. This open-spirited book contains a wealth of analysis and alternative logics that make it essential to serious readers about nature, the environment, spirituality and religion, Asia and ourselves. Beginning with science and spirituality, the discussion moves from immortality to theology to literal misinterpretations and unifies these themes around unacknowledged Western core values. Shifting to philosophy, ethics, and rights, an ecological argument about our selective 'liberation' of nature is proffered as an introduction to global issues, including traditional values of poor countries and lost traditions in the West. An engrossing hybrid Oriental-Western dialectic allows chapters to be read alone or as part of an accumulating thesis. Thus Buddhist and Christian teachings are applied to agriculture and sustainability -- and they are found to be at one with each other. Whether it is biblical metaphor, karmic logic or enlightened self-interest, the continuous thread of a strong suture stitches a complex set of subjects into a coherent sutra that will vivify the current moribund dialogue between agriculture, science and religion. -- back cover.


Religion and Sustainable Agriculture

Religion and Sustainable Agriculture

Author: Todd LeVasseur

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2016-10-21

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 081316799X

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Distinct practices of eating are at the heart of many of the world's faith traditions -- from the Christian Eucharist to Muslim customs of fasting during Ramadan to the vegetarianism and asceticism practiced by some followers of Hinduism and Buddhism. What we eat, how we eat, and whom we eat with can express our core values and religious devotion more clearly than verbal piety. In this wide-ranging collection, eminent scholars, theologians, activists, and lay farmers illuminate how religious beliefs influence and are influenced by the values and practices of sustainable agriculture. Together, they analyze a multitude of agricultural practices for their contributions to healthy, ethical living and environmental justice. Throughout, the contributors address current critical issues, including global trade agreements, indigenous rights to land and seed, and the effects of postcolonialism on farming and industry. Covering indigenous, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish perspectives, this groundbreaking volume makes a significant contribution to the study of ethics and agriculture.


Beliefs that Bias Food & Agriculture

Beliefs that Bias Food & Agriculture

Author: Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: Institute for International Development

Published: 2013-12-25

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0980787564

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The book answers 10 questions addressed to the author in various forms. Some are personal, while others relate to global issues. All are answered with candor and detailed explanation. The answers will not suit those who seek confirmation of popular viewpoints, nor will they suit those who insist they are doing good without having knowledge of what they are really doing. But they will admirably suit those extremely important persons from all walks of life who are open to new knowledge, who can accept challenges to their beliefs and received knowledge. The answers cover such topics as: - why livestock are critical to food security - why free trade and markets can't solve food shortages - why aid shouldn't insist poor countries follow our model - how to reconcile science and commerce with popular ideals - how gross domestic happiness can be a serious topic - how more food can be produced with less land and fertilizer - why labels like Buddhist and vegetarian confuse life - what traditional wisdom is critical to development - how misrepresentation fuels fears about climate change - why small farmers and foreign agribusiness must coexist


Buddhist - Christian Dialogue

Buddhist - Christian Dialogue

Author: J. Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: Uni-verity

Published: 2009-12-06

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13: 0980787505

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Buddhist - Christian Dialogue The Parliament of the World’s Religions, December 2-9, Melbourne, Australia Sunday, December 6, 2009, 11:30am– 1:00pm The program of the Parliament paraphrased this workshop in such words as those below. Its four papers stimulated much interest and flowed together in a productive manner that elicited a lively interaction. For that reason, the essence of these papers has been reproduced here for wider appreciation. The program included four parts and aimed to fosters a spirit of enquiry and openness: • Participants were offered examples from the Canonical gospels, the Gospel of Thomas, as well as writings from Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, and others. • The workshop presented approaches to objectless meditation, and explored its vital place in uncovering wisdom. • Presenters showed how issues raised by dialogue in contexts of pluralism could be explored collaboratively by Buddhists and Christians by retrieving strands of tradition such as compassion, empathy, care and forgiveness. • A recently released book was introduced, ‘Dharma as Man’, which is an ancient story read each evening by an old man to his young son in rural India. It is a universal tale condensed to combine the world’s stories, which renders Jesus’ life into Buddhist concepts in an ancient Indian setting. • There was a discussion of how traditions might better understand their shared vocation to alleviate suffering through interreligious dialogue and shared inter-spiritual contemplative silence.


Re-cultivating Agricultural Science Or what I've Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life

Re-cultivating Agricultural Science Or what I've Learned in 40 Years of Professional Life

Author: J. Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: IID

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 098078753X

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This book owes its origins to a collation of some of my publications for which a higher doctorate (Doctor of Agricultural Science) was awarded by the University of Melbourne in 2004. In that guise it was titled: Integrating Reductionist Research into International Agricultural Development: Re-conceiving Agricultural Research for Development; Technical Support for Development; Thai Agriculture; International Agriculture; Agricultural Education. It was thus an attempt to seek continuity across my research and development activities around various countries up until that time and to distill from it some conclusions that might inform future directions for international agricultural research and development. The citation from the higher doctorate read: ‘to John Lindsay Falvey who, from 30 years’ research combining technical, social, environmental, policy and historical research in the developing world, challenged the simple importing of agricultural technology. He demonstrated that indigenous knowledge and culture is critical to sustainability, food security and human development, thereby potentially benefitting millions of persons participating in international development projects.’ The citation is both an exaggeration and an understatement. It may or may not have assisted millions of persons – how can anyone know. But in another sense, the work revealed the lost element of wholeness that once characterized good science, good lives and wisdom. The information presented here is snippets from papers and books that strive to make that revelation explicit. Its partial prototype benefitted in presentation and explication from my colleagues who formed the panel for the higher doctorate deliberations, Professors David Chapman, Adrian Egan and Robert White.


Agriculture & Philosophy: Agricultural Science in Philosophy

Agriculture & Philosophy: Agricultural Science in Philosophy

Author: Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: Thaksin University Press

Published: 2020-01-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0975100076

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Agriculture and philosophy have been parts of a whole across history and remain so. Philosophy informs wellbeing and contentment amidst the vagaries of existence, the primary concern of which has always been security of food. Science, once known as natural philosophy, is a major means of philosophical advance today. Agricultural science is presented as comprising all of these components. The philosophical quest to be at ease in nature extends from pre-historical times into our unknown future, and employs diverse vehicles to convey insights across generations via myths, legends religion, academic study and ritual practices. Expressing esoteric concepts has employed agricultural metaphor across the historical era as it has been our most common interaction with nature. Continuing as our most widespread human interaction within nature, agriculture’s role in creating civilization, and later its writing, eventually led to an urban separation from nature including food production. Unifying the philosophy, agriculture and agricultural science across cultures and traditions from pre-agricultural times through the European Enlightenment to today, this work builds on neglected ancient insights. Perhaps the most profound of these insights is that our thoughts and actions may be seen as an integral part of nature. Rather than being independent agents with free will, our fears and guilt may be seen as active forces in the dynamics of nature itself, which includes our procurement of food. This conception offers a wider interaction than can be comprehended from current popular approaches.


Religion and Consumer Behaviour

Religion and Consumer Behaviour

Author: Gaurav Gupta

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-02-28

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1000845699

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Religion is an important part of individual lives, playing a major role in our decision making and puchasing. Understanding the influence of religion on consumer behaviour is therefore an essential practice for business. The COVID-19 pandemic has especially enhanced the influence of consumers’ religiosity on their consumption decisions. This book concentrates on understanding the relationship of religiosity with various aspects of consumption and consumer behaviour to improve policy and build on an under represented topic. In this edited collection, expert contributors, academicians and researchers discuss the influence of religion on consumer behaviour in depth including the “dark side” of religion on consumers’ consumption behaviour and religious cults. The chapters also explore the ethical issues surrounding consumption and the role of religion on branding and sustainable practices. With a broad perspective, the book draws on examples of practices from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. This book will be a particularly valuable resource for scholars and upper level students of marketing, consumer behaviour and consumer psychology. The interdisciplinary perspectives will also appeal to those studying sociology and globalization.


Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture

Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture

Author: Rattan Lal

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2014-11-24

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 1466598581

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Nearly two billion people depend on hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers for food security. Yet, these farmers’ lives also hang in the balance due to their extreme vulnerability to the risks of soil degradation and depletion, soil exhaustion, climate change, and numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture explores the potential smallholder agriculture hold for advancing global food security and outlines the challenges to achieving this goal. The book addresses the challenges and opportunities that resource-poor and small landholders face and provides recommended management practices to alleviate soil-related constraints, and increase and sustain crop yield and production. It discusses the cultural, economic, social, and technological aspects of sustainable soil management for smallholder farmers. It then examines soil-related and institutional constraints, principles of sustainable agriculture, soil quality improvement, nutrient and soil fertility management, soil carbon sequestration, soil security, efficient use of resources, and agronomic production. Edited by experts, the book makes the case for the adoption of proven technologies of sustainable intensification, producing more from less, both for advancing agronomic production and adapting to changing climate. It outlines a strategy that will usher in a soil-based Green Revolution by increasing the use efficiency of energy-based inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation to restore soil quality, and sequestering carbon in the terrestrial ecosystems. This strategy helps small farms narrow the gap between the actual and attainable crop yield.


Empowered Without Power

Empowered Without Power

Author: Kpughe Lang

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9956551074

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This book examines women's participation in the executive structures of the Basel Mission and Presbyterian Church in Cameroon in order to tell a new story of women and church leadership. In 1886, the Basel Mission commenced mission work in Cameroon and successfully established an indigenous church which gained independence in 1957 as Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). In both churches, women were underrepresented in the echelons of power owing to entrenched patriarchy and recourse to controversial empowerment. Female missionaries to Cameroon trained women in fields like motherhood, domestic science and marriage, which yielded little or no opportunities for local women to participate in the power structures of the Basel Mission. This patriarchal culture was handed down to the PCC, whose initial all-male authority ensured that the power structure was all-male. But growing feminism within the church and pressure from international ecumenical partners led to timid gender reforms which ended women's exclusion from the ordained ministry, promoted female eldership, led to the establishment of a convent, and the adoption of a gender inclusive policy. But women's dearth in positions of leadership persisted, with most executive structures filled by men. So, this book tells the story of women's involvement in the executive structures of the Basel Mission and Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. It is the first effort at a holistic approach to interpreting women's lack of power in these two churches. Based upon archival research and oral sources, the book tells the story of the people, forces and events that led to the consistent underrepresentation of women in the churches' echelons of power. The lived realities of women who challenged patriarchy and held leadership positions in the church are illuminated. It documents the reality of women's lack of power, with particular focus on the dilemmas of female pastors, elders, nuns, and female Christian groups.


Charan Chantalakhana: Thailand's International Scientist

Charan Chantalakhana: Thailand's International Scientist

Author: Lindsay Falvey

Publisher: Institute for International Development

Published: 2024-09-24

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 0980787599

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As Thailand rose with the world order since WWII, its reputation in the international agricultural sciences owed much to one person. Charan Chantalakhana was the man for the times. As the Vietnam conflict stimulated massive US influence in Thailand, more benign stars aligned to build on Charan’s remote Siamese origins and guide him through a leading US university. This biography includes his pioneering Kasetsart University work in animal science research and his leadership in Thai universities, his role in the peak international research body the CGIAR and in the International Livestock Research Institute, and some of his many accolades. Perhaps of even greater human interest, Falvey’s work also traces Charan’s inspirational life from Siam’s obscure Deep South, through his early truancy years before shepherded by mentors until he himself became an outstanding mentor for Southeast Asia and the global advocate for smallholder farmers.