• About
  • Vision and Mission
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Land & Table (our local food initiative)
Sustainable Traditions
Holistic Living. Whole Life Christian Faith.

Sustainable Traditions on Facebook Sustainable Traditions on Twitter

  • Blogs
    • Agrarian Notebook
    • Learning As We Go
    • Voice of One Calling
  • Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Excerpts
    • Suggested Reading
  • Features
  • Topics
    • Church & World History
    • Community and Ecclesia
    • Environment & Creation
    • Food & Agriculture
    • Heroes and Prophets
    • Home and Family
    • Intentional Living
    • Life In The Spirit
    • Money & Economics
    • Justice
    • Society and Culture
    • Technology
    • Theology
  • Interviews
  • Media
    • Audio
    • Videos
  • Going Local
    • Events
    • Opportunities
Browse: Home / Ragan Sutterfield

Ragan Sutterfield

Ragan Sutterfield

is a writer, teacher, and porch-sitter. He and his wife Emily work to live the agrarian life in urban Little Rock, AR.

The reality of our interdependence is a gift from GOD (click for original image source)

The Commonwealth of the Body

By Ragan Sutterfield on 01/19/2012

A woman’s body is not her own, a babies body is not her own…a man’s body is not his own—they are interconnected in a network of gifts—internal and external to the body. The human person is not private property…it is a commonwealth…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Features | Tagged belonging, commonwealth, Community and Ecclesia, economy, family, health, household, Intentional Community, membership, shalom, Wendell Berry | 1 Response

How will our church communities respond to this cry for justice? (click image for source)

Occupy Babylon

By Ragan Sutterfield on 11/29/2011

We do not want a replacement for the current system of global capitalism, we want something altogether different, something that is hard to imagine in the midst of Empire…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook | Tagged activism, Babylon, Bible, Christianity and Empire, culture, economics, empire, GOD's kingdom, money, occupy, politics, protest, sabbath economics, Scripture, society | 2 Responses

A deep love for small things

A Love for Small Things

By Ragan Sutterfield on 11/01/2011

A deep love for small things forms and trains us to savor the world and to recognize the unsavory when it appears…While major protests and efforts against the forces of global extractive economies have their place, we have the opportunity daily to participate in a slower, more profound work…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Features, Food & Agriculture | Tagged agrarianism, collard greens, cooking, economics, empire, food, food and faith, globalization, localism, love, Philosophy, relocalization, slow food, small is beautiful, southern cooking | 1 Response

GOD has made us to be fully human and to live on a human scale.

All We Need is to Be Human

By Ragan Sutterfield on 01/28/2011

There was an evangelical environmental campaign several years ago that asked, What Would Jesus Drive?…meant to lead toward the idea that Jesus would be a low-carbon kind of guy who’d probably drive a Prius or maybe a grease bus…But what if Jesus wouldn’t drive anything?…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Environment & Creation, Features, Technology | Tagged Al Gore, christian environmentalism, climate chaos, Creation Care, crisis, environment, future, green living, human scale, Jesus, limits, society, Sustainability, Sustainable Living, technology | 2 Responses

Can we reimagine education in the context of community? (montage: J Fowler)

Front Porch Education

By Ragan Sutterfield on 09/16/2010

Set aside for a moment your own experiences with school and think about how, given ample time and resources, you would go about educating children. What contexts would you put them in? Who would you want them to learn with and how?…Who would be their companions on the learning journey?…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Features, Society and Culture | Tagged alternative education, children, Community and Ecclesia, Education, front porch, industrialism, learning, localism, school, social critique, society | 1 Response

It's time to relocalize our lives (montage: J Fowler)

Life at a Human Pace in a Smaller Place

By Ragan Sutterfield on 09/05/2010

I set my bike up with a rack and saddle bags. I rode to the grocery store. I rode to work. I rode to friends’ houses for potlucks and parties. I rode the 6 miles to the school farm I help with. But I also found out how much I was dependent on a car for so many little things…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Features, Intentional Living | Tagged alternative transportation, bicycles, local living, oil spill, post-carbon, relocalization, relocalize, scale of living, slow living, Sustainability, Sustainable Living | 8 Responses

The BP Oil Spill: A Christian Call for Lament and Reconciliation

The BP Oil Spill: A Christian Call for Lament and Reconciliation

By Ragan Sutterfield on 06/07/2010

During the Duke Center for Reconciliation’s Summer Institute, Christians from varied denominations, backgrounds, and nations gathered to explore the work Christ is doing in reconciling all things…As followers of Christ…we mourn the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and the BP oil spill now polluting the Gulf of Mexico…

Posted in Environment & Creation, Features | Tagged beyond petroleum, christian faith, Christian response to BP oil spill, deepwater horizon, Duke Center for Reconciliation, ecology, environment, environmental disaster, godly grieving, Gulf of Mexico, lament, oil spill, reconciliation, repent | 6 Responses

Are you trying to be someone else? (montage: Jason Fowler)

Some Other Saint

By Ragan Sutterfield on 05/12/2010

There are many people who want to live like Shane Claiborne or Wendell Berry, but that would be a mistake. This is not to say that we should not learn from lives well lived—there are lots of things worth imitating—but we have to ask where God has called us and to what he has called us…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Features | Tagged authentic living, identity crisis, Jean Vanier, Shane Claiborne, Thomas Merton, Wendell Berry | 3 Responses

Creation, even after much abuse, can return and flourish

Sawdust Resurrection

By Ragan Sutterfield on 04/26/2010

Four and a half miles from the end of our hike, we came across a gigantic pile of sawdust…this area had been clear cut and run through the mill. Now that history was mostly invisible except with careful observation…

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Environment & Creation, Features | Tagged creation, ecology, Gerard Manley Hopkins, great outdoors, hiking, nature, resurrection, sawmill | 2 Responses

Once upon a time we lived in communities...can we return to 'neighboring'?

Neighboring

By Ragan Sutterfield on 04/09/2010

I have heard people, mostly of my grandparents’ generation, talk of neighboring together. For them neighboring meant forming a cooperative relationship—a space of care.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Posted in Agrarian Notebook, Community and Ecclesia, Features | Tagged Backpacking, Community and Ecclesia, cooperative living, David Orr, Intentional Christian Community, Intentional Community, Neighboring, one-anothering, Simplicity, Sustainability | 3 Responses

Next »

What We're Watching/ Listening To

Shane Claiborne (Interview)

  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Authors
  • Archives
  • Health For Godly Generations (Book Excerpt)
  • Embodying Our Faith: Creating A Culture of Sharing
  • Seeking shalom: Renewing the Regional Foodshed
  • The Commonwealth of the Body
  • Reclaiming the Temple: Looking on to What’s Next
  • Mom’s “New” Singer Sewing Machine
  • Christian Community: New Possibilities For Tough Economic Times
  • Reclaiming the Temple: Ponderings
  • Reclaiming the Temple: Day Four
  • Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning

agriculture Anti-Consumerism book book review Christian agrarian christian community christian faith Christianity christian living christmas Community and Ecclesia Consumerism creation Creation Care culture economy environment faith farming food food and faith Gardening GOD Intentional Christian Community Intentional Community Intentional Living Jesus Joel Salatin Justice justice kingdom of GOD local food local food movement localism love New Monasticism Poverty Prayer Simple Living Sustainable Agriculture Sustainable Living Theology video Wendell Berry Whole-life Christian faith

  • Arloa Sutter
  • Becky Garrison
  • Bill Guerrant
  • Brian Boitmann
  • Carl Peet
  • Caroline D'Angelo
  • Charles Moore
  • Chris Enstad
  • Chris Smith
  • Christine Sine
  • Chuck Summers
  • Claudio Oliver
  • Craig Goodwin
  • Dan Horwedel
  • David Alan Black
  • Dean Ohlman
  • Ed Cyzewski
  • Halden Doerge
  • Jason Fowler
  • Jeremy Timm
  • John Pattison
  • Julie Clawson
  • Lee McBride
  • Leni Sorensen
  • Lucas Land
  • Magdalena Perks
  • Mark Van Steenwyk
  • Meg Dunn
  • Melody Adele Connally
  • Michael Marsh
  • Natasha Turner
  • Pam Fowler
  • Paul Littleton
  • Peggy Kendall
  • Rachel Timm
  • Ragan Sutterfield
  • Ricci Kilmer
  • Rich Vincent
  • Rick Wise
  • Russell D. Moore
  • Rusty Pritchard
  • Ryan Marsh
  • Sam Ewell
  • Sara Cardinale
  • Scott Bessenecker
  • Scott Williams
  • Shawn James
  • Staff
  • Stuart Murray Williams
  • Thomas Turner
  • Tom Fuerst
  • Tom Sine
  • Tyler Amy
  • Wendell Berry
  • Wildcat Center
  • Zachary Adam Cohen
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009

Sponsors and Partners

Recent Comments

  • David Scott on The Commonwealth of the Body
  • Maria on Reclaiming the Temple: Looking on to What’s Next
  • Maria on Reclaiming the Temple: Day Four
  • suzannah {ShoutLaughLove} on Seeking shalom: Renewing the Regional Foodshed
  • Lori @ Laurel of Leaves on Reclaiming the Temple: Day Four
  • Pam on Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning
  • Pam on Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning
  • Pam on Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning
  • Anna on Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning
  • Tracey on Reclaiming the Temple: The Beginning
  • Jason Matyas on Behold Your King: A Christmas Greeting
  • J Fowler on Dark Soil: Ending the Land Application of Biosolids In America

Books We’re Reading

Books We're Reading

Mustard Seed vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the FutureOne Church, Many Tribes : Following Jesus the Way God Made YouTending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God's PeopleRed Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer is Awakening a GenerationPunk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of BreathingWendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life: A Readers Guide

More of Sustainable's books »
Sustainable Traditions's currently-reading book recommendations, reviews, quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

On Twitter

  • Health For Godly Generations (Book Excerpt) http://t.co/vlR46YRS #christianbooks #food #health #faith-3 days ago
  • Embodying Our Faith: Creating A Culture of Sharing http://t.co/nnTIUE99 by @BrianBoitmann of @actsofsharing-3 days ago
  • Are you coming to the Land & Table local food forum Feb 7? (fixed link)- http://t.co/0PDddFyu-6 days ago
  • Are you coming to the Land & Table local food forum Feb 7? (fixed link) - http://t.co/0PDddFyu-6 days ago
  • Are you coming to the Land & Table local food forum Feb 7? http://t.co/9AMDY0vs-6 days ago
WISELY WOVEN: Weaving Community With Web and Print Media
125x125
Featured in Alltop
I am a Food RENEGADE!
Copyright (c) 2012, Sustainable Traditions. Powered by WordPress, Hybrid, & the Blue Ridge Mtns. A WISELY WOVEN initiative.