Sparkhouse

"Gary Nabhan's work reminds us of what I can describe only as a sort of historical wonder..."

"Lyricism . . . infuses [Nabhan's] prose, a rhapsody tempered by hard botanical science."

"Nabhan's painstaking research has not eclipsed an evident natural knack for storytelling."

"Nabhan teaches ecological lessons to nonscientists through an impressive range of disciplines: ancient history, ethnobiology, paleo-nutrition, ecology, history, anthropology, and more."

"A bold, courageous, and utterly original rereading of Jesus's parables that draws us deep into questions of what it means to stand with those struggling with food insecurity, erosion of cultural identity, and spiritual loss. This gifted ethnobotanist, with his eyes wide open, helps us feel anew the pathos and power of Jesus's teachings about food and life and reimagine the world as sacramental."

"Every page of this fascinating book imbues the Scriptures with smell and taste, a living landscape and rich cultural tradition. Nabhan's gift for telling true stories and his keen insight into the practices of extractive economies then and now open our eyes to the gospel imperative of food justice." 

"Who better to give us a fresh reading of the Jesus story than one of our leading agrarian writers and practitioners? In Jesus for Farmers and Fishers, Gary Paul Nabhan's vast scientific and agricultural acumen melds with a deep contemplative wisdom. The result is one of the most insightful readings of the Gospels I've encountered, read through the eyes of the very people Jesus served: fishers, farmers, bakers, gleaners, migrant farmworkers. Here is a book for today's food justice movement, and for anyone who hungers for restoration of our lands and our communities."

"I am hungry for this book. Gary Paul Nabhan calls us to discover the tastes, scents, and textures of food in the Gospels and encounter the people who grew it, caught it, and cooked it. Nabhan's work plunges us into the way of Jesus that turns things upside down and inside out. The powerful are brought low and the lowly raised up. As Nabhan digs into the complexity and depth of injustice in Gospel times, we're shown stories that interweave with those of field hands and food service workers who provide our food--at great cost to themselves." 

"Prepare to be illuminated! Jesus for Farmers and Fishers brims with insights that can only come when you join in one person the world's leading ethnobotanist, a major food justice advocate, and a member of the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans. Page after page, Gary Paul Nabhan shows how living closely and practically with land, water, and fellow creatures helps readers appreciate Scripture in ways they never have before."