Jeff Chu: Good Soil

Jeff Chu: Good Soil

From On the Way Podcast by St John's Cathedral

March 18, 2026 · 60 min · Episode 130

About this episode

Jeff Chu discusses the lessons learned from agriculture and spirituality during his time at Princeton Theological Seminary's 'Farminary'.

What soil did you come from? There is no self-made person and perhaps this is a lesson that emerges with greater clarity in the garden than in many of the other spaces and ways we live and work.  Our sacred texts are rooted in agrarian cultures and the Gospels are full of Jesus' stories of green and growing things, yet we often hear a Christianity preached that seems more comfortable with the spiritual world than our embodied lives.  Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and found himself at Princeton Theological Seminary's "Farminary"-a working farm where students learn to cultivate the earth while examining life's biggest questions. In his book "Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand" Jeff writes about how such rhythms of death and life, growth, decay and regeneration can be our greatest teachers, revealing the grace of our interdependence and the love at the heart of everything. Jeff joins the podcast for this live conversation during his recent visit to Australia.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Guest: Jeff Chu

Topics covered

  • agriculture
  • Christianity
  • interdependence
  • spirituality
  • education

Keywords

  • Jeff Chu
  • Good Soil
  • Princeton Theological Seminary
  • agriculture
  • spirituality
  • Christianity
  • interdependence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Princeton Theological Seminary

Books & works: Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

Places: Australia

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