Each in Our Own Language: Symbolization and Social Ethics in Rural America

The so-called "rural-urban divide" in the United States has, by many accounts, become increasingly wide and deep. Most attempts, however sincere, to find ways to heal, bridge, or otherwise help rural and urban Americans understand their interdependence fail to account for the deep—and disparate—symbolic layers that suffuse these landscapes. Benjamin Durheim steps into this space to offer an insightful and compelling guidebook for understanding.

Via story, semiotic analysis, and careful ethical, theological, and liturgical reflection, Durheim plumbs the depths of symbol and meaning in rural America. Being able to read and write symbol well is essential for ministry, liturgical practice, and crafting social ethics in ways that fully humanize disparate factions. Understanding rural Americans' symbolic world is an essential precursor to forming social conditions where love might flourish. To help social reality bend toward the good in the context of rural America requires a literacy of its symbolic depth and bedrock. Durheim's careful work draws needed attention to symbol's social function, something with which rural Christian ministry, theological ethics, and rural sociology all must urgently reckon.