Ravished by Beauty The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality

Belden Lane weaves autobiographical essays that illuminate his own experience of nature into a "green theology" drawn from the unexpected resources of Reformed Christian spirituality. He offers a surprising new portrait of the Reformed tradition, revealing a Calvin who spoke of himself as "ravished" by the earth's beauty and a Jonathan Edwards who urged a sensuous enjoyment of God's beauty as the only real way of knowing God. Lane explores the apparent paradox of Reformed spirituality, arguing that Calvinists who may seem prudish and proper are in fact a people of passionate desire. Reformed Christians who appear totally focused on divine transcendence turn out to be closet nature mystics, exulting in God's glory everywhere. Lane warns that holy longing can be redirected from the contemplation of God's splendor in the earth's beauty to a craving for the land itself, leading to misuse of natural resources. But he persuasively argues the relevance of the Reformed tradition to contemporary ecological issues such as species diversity and the honoring of an earth community.

Belden C. Lane is Professor of Theological Studies, American Religion, and History of Spirituality at Saint Louis University and the author of The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.