Living in an Icon: A Program for Growing Closer to Creation and to God

Helps bridge the gap between love of God and love of nature.
Many people experience God most strongly in nature but do not know how to incorporate this experience into their spiritual life. Others question whether Christianity has room for nature at all and seek alternatives elsewhere, often leaving Christianity entirely. This book addresses this crucial issue by providing a resource for fostering a closer relationship with God and creation. With a step-by-step approach, this book provides a framework integrating asceticism with the contemplation of nature. Each chapter contains a “take it home” section for applying the lessons learned outdoors to everyday life, connecting God and nature as seamless components of spirituality. Topics include gratitude, delight, appreciation, wonder, discernment, reverence, mortality, love, beauty, humility, silence, and hope.

ROBERT GOTTFRIED directs the Center for Religion and Environment at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and coordinates its Contemplation and Care for Creation program, which combines theology, ecology and social science. For over twenty years, he has introduced people to the Christian practice of nature contemplation. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee.