Edited by Norman Wirzba, with photographs by Tom Barnes

The Gift of Creation: Images from Scripture and Earth is a beautiful book featuring vivid images of the Earth and the varied forms of life that call it home. Coupled with the images are biblically-based essays, written by notable academics and scholars from around the globe, exploring what scripture really says about caring for God’s creation, as well as a scientific assessment of the state of the Earth. These essays give a current state of the environment and a poignant and much-needed treatise on humanity’s role in caring for God’s creation.

The Gift of Creation reveals the splendor of nature in its varied landscapes, flora and fauna. The text reminds us to cherish and care for God's great gift.

9" x12" 176 pages, hardbound

About the Editor

Norman Wirzba is Research Professor of Theology, Ecology, and Rural Life at Duke Divinity School. He is the author of The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight, and the editor of The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land. 

About the Photographer

Thomas G. Barnes, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky. Tom is the Kentucky Extension Wildlife specialist and the author of four regional natural history books about Kentucky. He has published more than 40 research papers and is an internationally published photographer with clients that have included The National Wildlife Federation, Time-Life, McGraw-Hill Publishers, Prentice-Hall, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanical Garden, more than 40 federal, state, and city government agencies. His web site is: www.tombarnes.org
Review by Byron Borger of Hearts & Minds

What others have said about The Gift of Creation

The Gift of Creation is an invitation to open our eyes and keep them open—to the wonder and testimony of creation and creation’s degradation … it is a book telling the glory of God; it is a book telling of God’s divinity and everlasting power; it is an invitation to declare keep and restore the integrity of this great gift given us by its Giver.–– Calvin B. DeWitt, Professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"While looking at the photographs in this book, I cannot help but hear the thundering voice of the Creator in the Book of Job––"It's not all about you." God has written his theology in the wings of a butterfly and in the tail of a horse—and Tom has captured it. Like God’s speech to Job, these photographs remind me to be humble." –– Matthew Sleeth, MD, Executive Director of Blessed Earth and author of Serve God and Save the Planet and The Gospel According to the Earth