Abstract

This chapter first considers what the biblical writers say about nature and God's relationship to it, and then looks at the function of nature and the natural world in the Bible, and their peculiar role in apprehending the divine. It examines the early Christian conviction about the way that God ‘spoke’ through a human being, and is believed to be present in particular patterns of human relating. In the process of interpretation, we can discern the way in which nascent Christian theology uses analogy between nature and human affairs. The central role of the material world in biblical eschatology is also discussed.