Reviews
"In Jesus in Nature, Samuel Torvend provides a characteristically erudite tribute to the cosmic Christology permeating the thinking of Benedict of Nursia, the Venerable Bede, Walafrid Strabo, and Hildegard of Bingen. Erudite, yes, but written in engaging prose that invites readers to consider that nature was not merely scenery and background in the lives of Jesus and these monastic figures but rather was in their eyes charged with the very vitality of God. Readers who take up this invitation will learn from their monastic forebears and find their own appreciation of Christ at work in the cosmos deepened."
Timothy Brunk, Villanova University
"Jesus in Nature impresses in both its depth and breadth. Undertaking something like a monastic ressourcement, Samuel Torvend plumbs the depths of the tradition to capture the surprisingly relevant Christologies of medievals like Walafrid Strabo and Hildegard of Bingen. With an eye toward our contemporary ecological crises, Torvend shows how these figures broaden the scope of Christ’s saving work to truly cosmic proportions: from the embeddedness of the historical Jesus in a very local ecology to the inseparability of the books of nature and Scripture. This book is a must-read for those of us who want to see how our sequela Christi necessarily entails a loving care for creation!"
Lucas Briola, Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, Pennsylvania)
“Samuel Torvend presents us with an intriguing premise, namely, to craft a Christology through the lens of the environment. He begins by explicating the environmental world Jesus lived in that shaped his stories and worldview, as well as those of Benedict of Nursia, the Venerable Bede, Walafrid Strabo, and Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Torvend draws a clear line from Jesus, the Incarnation of God as expressed through all creation, to the intimate connection among monastic communities and the earth, thus shaping monastic images of who Jesus is for us.”
Laura Swan, OSB
“Samuel Torvend has given us a rare and refreshing melange: a careful account of the ecology of the actual land in which Jesus walked set next to a striking survey of the ways in which the Gospels present Jesus as immersed in that natural world. Then that combination is set next to the voices of four Benedictine monastics who followed Christ in caring for the natural world, and all of this written in luminous prose. Read this prose and learn again that authentic religion is not flight from the world. Rather, with Benedict and Bede, Walafrid and Hildegard, it is delight in the manifold gifts of creation and a desire to honor the Creator by seeking to use those gifts to heal harms.”
Gordon W. Lathrop, past-president, North American Academy of Liturgy and Societas Liturgica
“Christians in the 21st century are called to embrace the roots of our faith on Earth and to live that faith in the particular waters and lands we call home. Samuel Torvend offers a rich resource for this work. He first demonstrates the roots of Jesus’ teaching and ministry in the ecology of Galilee. He then offers key examples from the Christian tradition —Benedict of Nursia, the Venerable Bede, Walafrid Strabo, and Hildegard of Bingen— who praised their Creator by committing themselves deeply to the created Earth. This inspiring and well-told history has much to teach all of us who try to live faithfully as part of God’s world.”
Kevin J. O’Brien, Pacific Lutheran University
“A rich contribution to an emerging and crucially important endeavor: the rediscovery of the inseparable bonds between Christ the Logos and the created cosmos, between Jesus of Nazareth and his Galilean landscapes, and between third-millennium Christians and the biomes we inhabit. In Jesus in Nature, Samuel Torvend introduces four ‘monastic mentors’ who help us ponder those bonds and recover an integrated reading of the Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture. This creative exploration of the treasury of Benedictine wisdom on Christ and creation is truly commendable. And the signs of the times are a stark reminder of its importance.”
Tomás Insua, Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, University of Oxford
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