DESCRIPTION
In this penetrating book Allen Verhey deftly unpacks the underlying human narratives or "myths" through which Western culture perceives "nature," and he presents the biblical narrative as an alternative story that can help shape a very different ethos for "nature and altering it." Although Christian Scripture has often been accused of nurturing arrogance toward nature, Verhey looks at the Bible in a way that moves beyond those accusations and demonstrates the value of the Christian narrative for contemporary ecological ethics.
REVIEWS
Steven Bouma-Prediger
— Hope College
"Like everything Allen Verhey has written, this book is chock-full of insight and wisdom, offering a clear and nuanced presentation of how Christians should properly understand 'nature.' The book doubles as an excellent argument for why Christians ought to be responsible earthkeepers — altering the world with God's good future of shalom as the goal. May it find many readers."
Norman Wirzba
— Duke Divinity School
"This latest book by Allen Verhey is clear, compelling, well-informed, concise, and wise. In it Verhey turns his wide reading and patient analysis to the question of the Christian's responsibility for God's gift of creation. Nature and Altering It presents a vision that is both faithful to the Christian story and necessary for our time. I highly recommend it."
Andrew Lustig
— Davidson College
"Raises a wide-ranging challenge to much of the 'conventional wisdom' invoked in efforts to refashion nature, including human nature, according to our own preferences rather than God's purposes. Verhey's critique of the various myths that animate such efforts is especially persuasive. Although the book is modest in size, it is enormously wise. This is vintage Verhey!"