Plundered - by David W Swanson (Paperback)

About the Book

Pastor David Swanson knows that racial and environmental injustice share an origin story rooted in greed and oppression. Here, he shows how Christians can become communities of caretakers in dynamic relationship with our Creator that restore our relationship with creation and each other, and the holistic justice that can result.

Book Synopsis

Pastor David Swanson knows that racial and environmental injustice share an origin story rooted in greed and oppression. Here, he shows how Christians can become communities of caretakers in dynamic relationship with our Creator that restore our relationship with creation and each other, and the holistic justice that can result.

Review Quotes

"David Swanson is a wise guide-a needed voice in a fraught world. Plundered is a gift to the church, a compelling blend of penetrating insight and expansive vision for the life of the church in the world. Swanson's theological imagination draws us into a more connected world-showing us the intertwined injustices of ecological and racial violence. This is the kind of thinking we need as we move toward a future of unprecedented challenge. The best books help us see the striking similarities between being human and being Christian. Plundered invites us into deeper ways of being both."

"David Swanson thoughtfully identifies the common roots of racial and environmental injustice in order to invite the people of God into a different way of relating to one another and creation. Rather than exploiting and extracting commodities that degrade our humanity and its precious habitat, Christian communities can practice faithful stewardship that restores our world by healing our shared wounds. The urgency of this work cannot be overstated as all of creation yearns to be made whole."

"David W. Swanson makes the case that systemic racism and environmental destruction share the same poisonous root-greed. In the name of economic gain, both human and nonhuman resources are abused, ravaged, plundered. In that ugly reality, Swanson calls followers of Jesus to live differently, nurturing radical local community and healing the land. Plundered is a paradigm-shifting, unique, and beautiful book."

"Drawing from ancient pastoral wisdom and prophetic lived experience, Swanson shows how racial and ecological injustice are intertwined symptoms of the same pervasive disease, and how God's people can live out their calling as caretaking communities of healing and restoration in the world today. Honest, insightful, and inspiring."

"Finally, a pastoral exhortation that connects systemic racism to the climate crisis! David Swanson shows us not only the connections between the two but also how sin caused the disconnect. More importantly, Swanson shows how plunder is itself predatory on a more primary good: creation as a shared gift that can be plundered but never pushed out of a divine economy that naturalizes us into God's sabbath belonging."

"Greed is indeed the enemy that we face. David Swanson powerfully draws our human story together with the rest of creation and reminds us that the war against the powers and principalities behind racism, exploitation, and ecological destruction will not be won by individuals but by communities. Join the resistance!"

"In Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice, Pastor David Swanson poetically reminds us of the damaging effects of greed and sin. Through beautifully written imagery, amazingly honest narratives, and sound biblical and historical research, he calls Christians beyond reconciliation into the paradigm of repair. Pushing us to recognize, if God is reconciling all things, then the call for the church is to pursue justice in all things. In America, this begins with untangling the roots of our original sins, racial and environmental injustice."

"Rooted in the concrete experience of a local congregation, David Swanson issues an urgent wake up call to our priestly vocation as communities of caretakers who honor the interconnectedness of people and place within creation in the midst of current racial and ecological plunder. I cannot recommend this book more highly!"

"The West has segmented life into small compartments to the point where few people actually live a whole existence. In Plundered, David Swanson presents us with all the right ingredients: humanity's purpose and our relationship with creation, justice, race, economics, sabbath, and virtue. This book was made to put us back together again and show us how to understand life the way it was meant to be."

"This profoundly relevant book offers us a new way forward as participants in a regenerative movement to build a world where all forms of life are respected. David Swanson shows us how racism and other evils, including the degradation of the Earth, are deeply interrelated. No one ethnic, racial, or national group has all the answers, but everyone can contribute to the Earth's healing. So, for all who long for reconciliation to become a reality, I highly recommend this book!"

About the Author

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 the Covenant Companion. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons.