Book of Nature

A sample entry from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (London & New York: Continuum, 2005) Edited by Bron Taylor © 2005 All Rights Reserved 210 Book of Nature See also: Buddhism – Tibetan; Shamanism – Traditional; Alain de Lille (1128–1202) and Thomas Aquinas (1225– Tibet and Central Asia. 1274) who both emphasized the inherent orderliness in and purposive aspects of nature. For Aquinas and Lille, nature is a system of fixed laws and secondary causes that Book of Nature reveal an intelligent creator and “Unmoved Mover” (God) who sets the forces of nature in motion. “The Book of Nature” refers to the Christian concept of Medieval scholastic theological discourses on creation nature as a book, written by the hand of God and serving and the “argument from design (in nature)” for the as a companion volume to the book of Scripture. With existence of God were complemented by more popular reference to this concept, the devout Christian is under- theological and literary traditions that emphasized each stood to be a faithful, attentive reader, studying both aspect of nature as having symbolic significance with creation (the physical world made and sustained by God) respect to God’s character or the aspirations of virtuous and the Word (the Christian Bible, understood as the Christians. Medieval emblem books and bestiaries revealed word of God). For traditional Christian thinkers, described the natural world through a Christian theo- the book of the Bible takes precedence as the source of logical lens, with animals representing particular vices, revealed knowledge of God which serves as a means of virtues or doctrines, such as the goat representing the sin grace for the faithful. The book of nature is secondary, a of lust, the glow worm symbolizing the light of the Holy source of natural knowledge of God, available to human Spirit and the caterpillar representing the resurrection of reason, but lacking a means of knowing the transcendent Christ. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, the aspects of the divine. The art of reading the book of nature popularity of emblem books grew such that texts about also lacks the requirements of faith and the possibilities the (symbolically Christian) natural world developed side of spiritual transformation that comes through divine by side with ever more popular representations of nature revelation. Contemplation of nature may lead to the as a Christian text. In this same period, natural theology growth and refinement of one’s knowledge of God, but it is reached new heights of popularity, influencing the only God’s active work of self-revelation and grace that development of natural science, first as a means of acquir- can perform the work of redemption on human beings. ing greater knowledge and understanding of God and later Studying the book of nature, however, has a certain demo- as a discipline in its own right, with or without reference to cratic function because it is available to lettered and unlet- a divine creator. tered, churched and unchurched alike. Thus, attention to In the American setting, the view of nature as God’s the book of nature may lead one to grow closer in know- book flowered in the context of a new environmental ledge and love of God, the Creator, and thus can spiritually setting that was both bountiful and frightening to Euro- prepare an individual for God’s redemptive work. pean colonial eyes. This new physical surround, coupled The importance of examining creation to understand with a long-standing intellectual tradition of “reading” the character and attributes of God is an ancient religious nature, led to a rich theological and literary production theme that informally reaches back to Rabbinic Judaism, emerging from the contemplation of nature’s meanings. as well as to earlier Ancient Israelite religious expression. The tradition of the book of nature persisted in both liberal The concept of “thinking back” from nature to God also and orthodox Protestant thought. The Puritan leader draws on the Greek Platonic and Aristotelian traditions of Cotton Mather urged his readers to walk in the “Publick reasoning by starting with the order of nature in order to Library (sic)” of nature in order to read about the character then establish the character of divine beings or, in Plato’s of God, and Jonathan Edwards saw in nature “images and case, of ideal forms. The traditional Christian view of shadows” of the divine, interpreting thunderstorms and creation builds on its Jewish heritage and its Hellenistic rainbows symbolically, as had the emblemists before him. context, while also elaborating the concept of the Word Later, in liberal theological contexts, the tradition of inter- (Logos) as the means through which physical creation preting nature slowly became divorced from traditional is brought into being. The logos of scripture is thus Christian theology. The rise of deism in the seventeenth conceptually linked to the physical world, which is also and eighteenth centuries fostered attention on nature itself interpreted as a form of divine speech or divine text. with a concept of God as a great Architect or Watchmaker, In the history of Christian thought, the notion of nature and nature as a building or machine that, once set in as a “book” finds vivid expression in the writings of motion by God, contained laws and processes that could Augustine of Hippo (354–430) who claimed that reading be independently understood and, ideally, controlled. the book of nature directly was a more valuable means of Deism itself created a precedent that led some to a wholly knowing God than reading theological texts (though not atheistic reading of nature’s book, with the hope and more valuable than reading scripture itself). The metaphor expectation of discerning nature’s own laws and processes of the book of nature persists into the twelfth century and nothing more. This intellectual shift may have led to a where the notion of nature as a book is reinvigorated by greater scientific knowledge and appreciation for nature, Boston Research Center for the 21st Century 211 but also established the groundwork for the intellectual book. Their collective emphasis on divine immanence and and physical control of nature that has led to techno- action in creation suggests an author who is still pro- logical innovation, but also ecological destruction. ducing and revising the text, a stance which resonates In the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, and in with – rather than stands against – much modern scientific partial reaction to the Enlightenment view of nature’s thinking. book, philosophers and writers participating in the rise of In the realm of ecological activism, also, the concept of Romanticism in Germany and England also propagated “The Book of Nature” continues to be employed. The the notion of nature as a “book,” revitalizing the notion Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation, for instance, that nature contained hidden messages and meanings, sponsors “Book of Nature” retreats that invite Christians though no longer those of Christian doctrine. For the and Jews to spend time in wilderness settings and discern European Romantics and the American Transcendental- what the wilderness might teach, as mediated by the ists, nature could be “read” for insight into the (often post- religious traditions and orientations of participants. Such Christian) divine, but was also studied for knowledge of retreat experiences build on earlier American traditions of the self and as a means of cultivating the imagination. The “open air” religion, including the founding of organiza- Romantic ideal of the Poet-Seer posited a visionary who tions (such as the Boy Scouts, the YMCA and Jewish was specially equipped to “read” nature and then, through camping associations) that use outdoor settings to foster use of the Imagination, transform the messages of nature religious insight and moral character. More recent into literature that would bring “nature’s book” to the experiential workshops, however, are often explicitly attention of other readers. In this context, nature still directed not only at gaining religious insight through served as a kind of cryptogram, but the message was no nature study, but also at harnessing such insights for the longer strictly theological, but more broadly metaphysical, sake of environmental protection. While the concept of existential and psychological. nature’s book is an ancient one, it clearly continues to be The Romantic tradition has played a vital role in revitalized and reinterpreted (particularly with ecological developing a legacy of nature appreciation in Europe and emphasis) in religious thought and practice today. America, although the legacy is a complex one and not wholly positive. Among the negative legacies are the Rebecca Gould connections made (particularly in the nineteen and early twentieth centuries) between Romantic nature appreci- Further Reading ation and certain forms of European nationalism. The Albanese, Catherine. Nature Religion in America. Chicago: Fascist movement in Germany is the darkest example of University of Chicago Press, 1990. the ways in which pastoral themes in the art and literature McFague, Sallie. Super, Natural Christians. Minneapolis, of German romanticism were exploited to nationalistic Minnesota: Augsburg/Fortress, 1997. purpose. The pursuit of a redemptive and “pure” rural Glacken, Clarence. Traces on the Rhodian Shore. Berkeley: Germany was linked to the concept of establishing a pure University of California Press, 1967. German race. German Romanticism was one of many Thomas, Keith. Man and the Natural World. Oxford: “background theories” in the growth of National Social- Oxford University Press, 1983. ism, but it is undeniable that anti-Semitism developed See also: Deism; Ecofascism; Fascism; Natural Theology; hand-in-hand with popular celebrations of German Romanticism – in American Literature; Romanticism – in country life. The concept of the book of nature, then, was European Literature. not always beneficent. Contemporary eco-theology has revived interest in nature as a “book” to be studied.

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