The cereals in the Bible

some ecotheological aspects

Abstract

Ecotheology involves all the senses, especially hearing. Learning to listen to the “echo” of creation, the voice that now whispers like the cooling wind (1Ki 19,12). Now it sings like the water that flows from the mountains (Is 41,18). It sometimes moans like the parturient woman (Rm 8,22) and now it revolts and shows its aggressive face like a terrible storm (Jn 6,16-21). To do ecotheology, human beings must assume their role as co-creators of divine work. As Pope Francis said in Laudato Sì: “[…] the correct interpretation of a human being as lord of the universe is to understand him in the sense of responsible administrator” (LS, 116). Currently, humanity has been suffering from the effects of a crisis that runs through several dimensions: social, economic, environmental, political, ethical, health, etc. Let us not think, therefore, that this profound multidimensional crisis was caused by the Corona-virus pandemic. In fact, the health catastrophe only took the skin off the wound and exposed the decay of an economic system that is matricidal, as it exploits and kills mother earth. The post-pandemic world, as much is said, cannot return to the unhealthy practices that led to the current level that humanity is at. In this sense, Theology has a fundamental role in contemplating and pointing out new sustainable paths for humanity. Each epistemic area of the theological universe has its own place of speech. Biblical theology, for example, can look at Sacred Scripture and build on it a meaningful ecotheological reflection. Seeking to respond to current demands, the present text wants to investigate and pave the way for future biblicalecotheological systematizations about how the ancient Israeli people produced their food and how they related to the land.