Plundered

Two of the world's greatest crises, systemic racism and environmental destruction, share the same origin story. The two are rooted in economic forces that exploit and oppress both people and land.

Pastor David Swanson shows how we have failed our God-given duty as caretakers of creation and how that failure has resulted in the exploitation of people and the extraction of natural resources. Racial and ecological injustice share the same root cause—greed—that turns people and the natural world into commodities that are only valued for their utility. Yet Christians have the capacity to live in a way that nurtures racial and environmental justice simultaneously, honoring people and places in dynamic relationship with our Creator God. Swanson shows how we can become communities of caretakers, the way to restore our relationship with creation and each other, and the holistic justice that can result.



David W. Swanson is the pastor of New Community Covenant Church, a multicultural congregation in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. He helps lead New Community Outreach, a nonprofit that collaborates with the community to reduce sources of trauma, and he speaks around the country on the topics of racial justice and reconciliation. He is the author of Rediscipling the White Church, and he has written articles for Christianity Today, the Englewood Review of Books, and theCovenant Companion. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons.



Part One: Tangled Roots



1. The Gift of Creation



2. Priestly Caretakers



3. Exploitation and Extraction



4. Severed from Place



5. Caretaking in the Anthropocene



6. Creator and Re-creator



Part Two: Becoming Naturalized



7. Nurturing Belonging



8. Nurturing Sabbath



9. Nurturing Virtue



Conclusion: Better Than Utopia



Acknowledgments



Questions for Reflection and Discussion



Notes