The Book of Nature - by Barbara Mahany

About the Book

Before the sacred Scriptures were ever written, there was a much earlier text: The Book of Nature. Barbara Mahany invites us to discover an ancient theology that focuses on the text of God first revealed through creation--nature in all its kaleidoscopic turnings.

Book Synopsis

We live inside a nautilus of prayer--if only we open our senses and perceive what is infused all around.

Throughout millennia and across the monotheistic religions, the natural was often revered as a sacred text. By the Middle Ages, this text was given a name, "The Book of Nature," the first, best entry point for encounter with the divine. The very act of "reading" the world, of focusing our attention on each twinkling star and unfurling blossom, humbles us and draws us into sacred encounter.

As we grapple to make sense of today's tumultuous world, one where nature is at once a damaged and damaging source of disaster, as well as a place of refuge and retreat, we are called again to examine how generously it awaits our attention and devotion, standing ready to be read by all.

Weaving together the astonishments of science; the profound wisdom and literary gems of thinkers, poets, and observers who have come before us; and her own spiritual practice and gentle observation, Barbara Mahany reintroduces us to The Book of Nature, an experiential framework of the divine. God's first revelation came to us through an ongoing creation, one that--through stillness and attentiveness to the rumblings of the heavens, the seasonal eruptions of earth, the invisible pull of migration, of tide, and of celestial shiftings--draws us into sacred encounter. We needn't look farther for the divine.

Review Quotes

"Mahany's lyrical, thoughtful, most recent work beautifully complements her shelf of awe-inspired books about nature and will appeal to fans of Shauna Niequist and Anne Lamott." --Booklist

"The Book of Nature provides permission to wonder, get curious and find God in the tiny details of a sprouting garden, a forest glade, birds in flight or the moon....Mahany reminds us that there are different ways to encounter God all around us, beyond just in scripture." --BookPage

"Weaving together the astonishments of science; the profound wisdom and literary gems of thinkers, poets, and observers who have come before us; and her own spiritual practice and gentle observation, Barbara Mahany reintroduces us to The Book of Nature, an experiential framework of the divine." --Englewood Review of Books

"Mahany...writes in ways that are nearly as arresting as the book of nature she describes." --National Catholic Reporter

"This is definitely a read slowly kind of book. Happily for those of us who identify more as empirical than mystical, the former nurse writes that knowing scientific explanations for what she observes enhances rather than diminishes her awe." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Regardless of where one's spirituality (or lack of it) may lie, Barbara Mahany's The Book of Nature is a deeply rich celebration of the ageless overlap between religion and the many faces of the natural world--the 'Book of Nature' to which mystics, monks, and others have turned for insight into the sacred. Best of all, this thought-provoking exploration is wrapped in Mahany's luscious and luminous writing, which makes every page a delight." --Scott Weidensaul, author of A World on the Wing

"Attention is among the deepest forms of integrity. In The Book of Nature, Barbara Mahany pays attention. She doesn't look through nature; she looks at nature and, there, sees the mysteries that make and unmake us. In an age of environmental threat and neglect, Barbara Mahany's book is a theological, poetic, and devoted plea for attention to our most fundamental constitution: matter--and everything that comes from it, including us." --Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound from On Being Studios

"The Book of Nature is an invitation to step into the newness of each day: sunrise, garden, forest, waters, nightfall. These pages reflect both awe and heartbreak, a pause when our world feels on fire and the climate crisis calls us to collective lament, communion, and action." --Mallory McDuff, author of Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice

"Following in and deepening the footsteps of the Desert Mothers and Fathers, Barbara Mahany's The Book of Nature invites you to engage with nature as the body of God: to know that all life is the happening of a nondual Aliveness called by many names. Calling to a humanity drunk on transcendence and desperate to escape from Nature and our responsibility to Her, The Book of Nature reveals the sobering immanence of God as the Source and Substance of all reality." --Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Judaism Without Tribalism

"Lovely and smart reflections--the perfect book to slip into a rucksack on a day you're planning a wander through the larger world!" --Bill McKibben, author The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon