Water is Alive: The agency and power of our most precious resource

“First Thursdays at the Farm” is a distinctive dinner series hosted at The Farminary, Princeton Theological Seminary’s 21-acre farm. Featuring a unique line-up of speakers, the intimate dinners are designed to generate meaningful conversation. No big presentations; just big ideas and delicious food in a one-of-a-kind venue.

COST: $125 per person; those who buy 3+ tickets get 15% off the total cost.

Spiritual traditions talk a lot about “living water.” This is usually used as a metaphor for something immaterial, spiritual, something that exceeds the world. But in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the language of “living water” refers literally to water. Water that is touchable, drinkable. Water that is clean, fresh; alive and enlivening. It is, in the ancient world as today, our most precious, most threatened resource. How do ancient texts help reorient modern lives to this real, living water?

Water is Alive: The agency and power of our most precious resource

Elaine T. James, associate professor of Old Testament, joined the faculty in 2019. She is the author of An Invitation to Biblical Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2021) and Landscapes of the Song of Songs: Poetry and Place (Oxford University Press, 2017). Her work focuses on the literature of the Hebrew Bible, especially its poetry, examining its significance in ancient contexts and its legacies for the contemporary world. Guiding her research are questions about how aesthetic practices shape religious experience and theological thought. She is particularly interested in ancient concepts of ecology, art and creativity, and gender.

James earned her PhD and MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. She previously served as associate professor of theology at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Chef: Margo Carner is the Chef and Founder of Fridge2Table, providing personal chef and catering services

ABOUT THE FARMINARY

The Farminary is a place where theological education is integrated with small-scale regenerative agriculture to train faith leaders who are conversant in the areas of ecology, sustainability, and food justice. It is designed to train students to challenge society’s 24–7 culture of productivity by following a different rhythm, one that is governed by the seasons and Sabbath. “The project’s main goal is to form leaders by cultivating ecological and agricultural sensibilities within them like paying attention to the seasons, understanding the interconnectedness of life and death, and becoming comfortable with failure,” says Nate Stucky, director of the Farminary Project.