On the Ground

O'neil Van Horn is Assistant Professor of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He holds a PhD in Philosophical and Theological Studies from Drew University and is a former Louisville Scholar (2021-2023). He has published various works in the fields of theopoetics, constructive ecotheology, and environmental philosophy.

Introduction 1 Interlude: The Differences of Our Soils, the Soils of Our Differences 15 1. Planting: Ground Is Not Foundation 18 Interlude: Poetics at the Edge 42 2. Rooting: Terrestrial Theopoetics of and for the Planetary 44 Interlude: Mountaintop Removal and the Impossibility of Hope 62 3. Sprouting: Dark Hope in Undecidable Times 67 Interlude: Seeds and the Subversive Act of Sowing 96 4. Blooming: (De)Compositional Planetary Politics 101 Conclusion 125 Acknowledgments 129 Notes 131 Bibliography 167 Index 179

On the Ground is a thoughtful, conceptually dense punch of a book. The depth of engagement with challenging theorists is commendable. . . The articulation and cultivation of original, provocative, useful ideas is palpable.-- "H-Net Reviews" In a world alternately on fire and yet drowning in floodwater, Van Horn considers how caring for local habitats can cultivate hopefulness and well-being amid ecosystem collapse. In this brilliant study of the fecund metaphors of earth, ground, soil, matter and humus, a philosophy of planetary unity emerges that preserves the irreducible racial, economic and gender differences that previous philosophies have occluded. Borrowing from new agrarianism, terrestrial theopoetics, Afrofuturist ecology, process philosophy, and ecojustice principles, Van Horn in the end calls neither for techno-optimism nor apocalyptic despair but a cautious "dark hope" fertilized by local habitat restoration and bioregional coalition politics.---Mark I. Wallace, James Hormel Professor of Social Justice in the Department of Religion at Swarthmore College, and author of When God Was a Bird: Christianity, Animism, and the Re-Enchantment of the World In On the Ground, O'neil Van Horn calls us back to the humus of of our humanity and humility: to the evolving, entangled community of living and decomposing bodies that make up the soil of our earthly grounds and our own bodies. From these entangled earthy places, we might begin to articulate visions of planetary politics that keep us focused on the bodies of the earth, and work from dark, earthly hopes toward different worlds in an emergent future that is not merely more of the same, but really yet to sprout forth.---Whitney Bauman, Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University, and author of Religion and Ecology: Developing a Planetary Ethic While life on Earth feels increasingly groundless and uprooted, O'neil Van Horn gives us grounds for hope. Philosophical and theological grounds for thinking, feeling, and acting are brought down to Earth, to the grounds of soils and seeds. Creatively composing and composting the varieties of terrestrial existence, these grounds expose a dark hope, opening new poetic and political possibilities amid ongoing uncertainty, suffering, and lament.---Sam Mickey, Research Associate, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology