Wendell Berry and the Bible

Yesterday, the beloved Wendell Berry died at age 92. He was an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer.

Many of us profited greatly from his various writings, always being challenged by him to pay better attention to what is happening around us, and to do what we could for the good of all things, no matter how small. And he could always comfort: “The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

A friend and I were texting about his passing, and we shared a couple of his wonderful short poems. I commented that between Berry and the ancient poet Rumi, I hardly need my Bible anymore!

Her reply was that I likely appreciate Rumi and Berry so much because I am so steeped in the Bible: the Bible opens the way to the deeper layers of life.

That is true, I believe, but there is something else going on.

I grew up with Romans 14:23: “everything that is not of faith is sin.”

I understood that to mean that anything that anyone who is not a professing Christian does, however good it may appear (or sound, in the case of a poem), is, in the end, sin. Moral bankruptcy. Total depravity. Which also meant that there was a sharp line of demarcation between us Christians and those who were outside the fold.

You can see why we were encouraged to take the great writers of history with a grain of salt, always, in the end, writing them off if they were not Christians. We could certainly value their skill, and find resonance with some of their ideas (common grace), but in the final analysis, their writing is fatally permeated by sin.

I went back and looked at Romans 14:23, and briefly scanned the context. I found something very interesting. In verse 19 Paul concludes a long argument by saying “let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” That is the central theme around which every other sentence and statement hangs, including the one which follows: “whatever is not of faith is sin.”

Paul is clearly not making a sweeping judgment about the moral depravity of those who do not profess to be Christians.

He is addressing a set of issues within a community of Jesus-followers and calling for “peace” and “edification.” Whatever does not lead to peace is sin. “Sin” here is not the lack of correct dogmatic orthodoxy, or not belonging to a chosen community; it is the fracture of integrity, peace, and love—which damages the individual and the community.

Whatever leads to peace is in line with the ultimate purpose of God through Christ (Col 1:20). Paul goes on to express his conviction that all of this is designed, not just for Jews, or not just for Christians, but for all peoples. “Sing praises to him, all you peoples” (15:11) and “the Gentiles will hope in him” (15:12).

I believe that if I still believed what I was taught—that everything not coming from explicit Christian faith is sin—I would not be able to appreciate Berry, or Rumi, or anyone else the way I do.

Now I find, with no caveats, integrity, peace, love, appropriate challenge, and comfort in these and other writings. Where I find these, I find God reconciling the world to himself through Christ. There lie the deeper layers of life.

Thank you, Wendell Berry. Rest in peace.