Nature Praising God

Acknowledgements ................................................................. 7

Foreword: Margaret Daly-Denton ............................................. 9

Chapter 1

Retrieving a Lost Conversation..........................................13

a. A Sample of Texts on Nature Praising God............................... 13

b. A Note on the Personification of Nature................................... 19

Chapter 2

Biblical Commentators on Nature Praising God.............. 21

a. Terrence E. Fretheim’s Pioneering Contribution........................ 22

b. Richard Bauckham’s Distinctive Vision..................................... 23

c. David G. Horrell’s Constructive Critique.................................. 25

d. Mark Harris’s Call for a New Theology of Nature..................... 29

Chapter 3

Theological Commentators on Nature Praising God ......33

a. Thomas Berry............................................................................. 34

b. Elizabeth A. Johnson................................................................. 36

c. Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home......................... 38

d. A Retrospective on This Debate................................................ 41

Chapter 4

Towards

a New Narrative about Nature ........................... 44

a. Nature as a Living Community.................................................. 44

b. Nature as Grace-Filled............................................................... 47

c. Nature as a Book........................................................................ 51

d. Nature as Sacramental............................................................... 53

Chapter 5

A Nature-Based Pneumatology ..........................................56

a. Neglect of the Spirit................................................................... 57

b. The Spirit in the Hebrew Bible.................................................. 62

c. Mark Wallace on the Spirit........................................................ 66

Chapter 6

A Nature-Based Christology ..............................................71

a. From the Quest for the Historical Jesus to the

Quest for the Cosmic Christ...................................................... 72

b. The Coming Reign of God and the Renewal of Creation.......... 74

c. Overview of the Incarnation...................................................... 77

d. From Incarnation to Deep Incarnation...................................... 79

e. From Deep Incarnation to a New Theology of Nature

as Subject and Agent.................................................................. 86

Chapter 7

Integrating a Theology of Creation in the Service

of Liturgy ..............................................................................92

a. Retrieving the Theology ‘Creation out of Nothing’.................... 94

b. Continuous Creation................................................................. 97

c. The Promise of a New Creation................................................. 97

d. The Link between ‘Creation out of Nothing’ and Prayer.......... 100

Epilogue: Gathering Up the Fragments: Towards a

Theology of Creation Praising God .................................105

1. The Qualities of Nature as a Subject......................................... 106

2. The Implications of Nature as a Subject Praising God.............. 107

Appendices

1. St Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226) ‘The Canticle of

Creation’................................................................................... 109

2. Pope Francis ‘A Christian Prayer in Union with

Creation’................................................................................... 110

Select Bibliography ..............................................................113

Index ......................................................................................117