When Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth, he was invoking the ancient character trait of anav, meekness. Anav doesn’t mean wimpy and powerless, but rather a lifeway that delights the Lord, marked by humility, sustainability, non-grasping, and resiliency. Could it be that the meek shall inherit the earth because only they are able to coexist and thrive within the blessings and boundaries of creation on its own terms, while the haughty and hoarding are unable?

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Rewilding the Way: Break Free to Follow an Untamed God (Herald Press, September 2015)

How did Christianity become so tame?

God’s dream for human society is far wilder than we can imagine. So why are we so tied to the American Way of overconsumption, status-seeking, gadgetry, and fossil fuels, and how might we break free?

In Rewilding the Way, Todd Wynward rewilds Christianity by digging into prophetic Scriptures and the lessons of Christ to find instruction for redemptive rebellion and joyful enoughness. Wynward, who has spent more than one thousand nights outdoors, writes in the wilderness tradition of John the Baptist and Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound, to discover meaning in reasonable self-denial and hope in uncolonized spaces.

Drawing from writers like Bill McKibben and Joanna Macy and communities like New Monastics and the Anabaptists, Wynward offers inspiring ideas such as reskilling, local food covenants, relational tithes, co-housing, transition towns, and watershed discipleship to live faithfully in an era of climate change and cultural captivity. How can we recover from our affluenza? How can we raise families and also be radical disciples? How can we engage in society without being allegiant to it? With Rewilding Faith, gain encouragement to break free from the empire of Christendom and become the wild people God wants us to be.

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Todd Wynward, author, activist, educator, lives with his family in Taos, NM. When he is not re-imagining Christianity, Wynward is re-imagining public education and the American way of life, starting with his own. Locally he practices homesteading in the high desert, while nationally he works to galvanize movements in watershed discipleship, bioregional food covenants, and more-with-less living. He has been engaged in experiential education and social change movements for twenty years, and has spent more than a thousand nights outdoors. He is the founder of a wilderness-based public middle school, leads backpacking and river trips for adult seekers, and is an animating force behind TiLT, an intentional co-housing community. Patheos.com calls his novel The Secrets of Leaven a delicious mystery exploring deep questions. His writings and doings can be found at leavenrising.com.