This volume in the Earth Bible Commentary Series suggests how John's Gospel might motivate and resource a Christian response to the ecological crisis. Margaret Daly-Denton shows how aptly Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus as 'the gardener' (Jn 20.15), completing his day's work in the 'garden' of the Earth. The Johannine story of Jesus offers his present day followers a paradigm with considerable potential to inspire Earth care, sustainable living and commitment to eco-justice. The Fourth Evangelist believes that Jesus fulfils the Jewish hope for a restoration envisaged as a return of humankind to Eden. Keeping this theme continually in mind, Daly-Denton reads the gospel with sensitivity to the role of the more-than-human world in the narrative and with particular attention to the scriptural underlay that repeatedly brings this world into the foreground. The commentary begins with an exploration of the memories and associations that the garden setting would have evoked for the intended audience. It then follows the gospel's spiral path that eventually leads to the garden of Mary's encounter. Each chapter concludes by asking how believers might do God's work (Jn 6.28) in today's ecologically damaged world and by offering practical suggestions indicative of the reflection that readers of the commentary will be able to do in their own setting.

This book was written during the lockdown caused by the Covid crisis: streets were emptied, churches closed down, and all of a sudden we began to hear the sounds of nature. A new relationship with nature developed in which new questions arose: is God present in nature? Is communion with God in nature possible? Is there a relationship between the God of creation, the God of history and the God we worship in Sunday liturgies. This book seeks to explore some of these questions by going back to the Bible. In the Old Testament it discovers texts that talk about Nature praising God. In the Christian tradition it shows that nature is understood as a living community, is graced by God, and has a sacramental character to it. More particularly the Incarnation of the Word made flesh in Jesus is of profound significance for a new understanding of nature and the way we worship. The Incarnation reveals the integrity of nature, the sacred character of the natural world and the presence of some form of 'interiority' in the life of nature An awareness of nature praising God stands out as a rebuke of humanity's self-absorption at the expense of other creatures, a critique of a man-centred view of liturgy, and an invitation to join the cosmic choir in giving glory to God . The overall result of these explorations is the outline of a new theology of nature praising God, with lessons for the way we worship God in our churches today.

This volume in the Earth Bible Commentary Series suggests how John's Gospel might motivate and resource a Christian response to the ecological crisis. Margaret Daly-Denton shows how aptly Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus as 'the gardener' (Jn 20.15), completing his day's work in the 'garden' of the Earth. The Johannine story of Jesus offers his present day followers a paradigm with considerable potential to inspire Earth care, sustainable living and commitment to eco-justice. The Fourth Evangelist believes that Jesus fulfils the Jewish hope for a restoration envisaged as a return of humankind to Eden. Keeping this theme continually in mind, Daly-Denton reads the gospel with sensitivity to the role of the more-than-human world in the narrative and with particular attention to the scriptural underlay that repeatedly brings this world into the foreground. The commentary begins with an exploration of the memories and associations that the garden setting would have evoked for the intended audience. It then follows the gospel's spiral path that eventually leads to the garden of Mary's encounter. Each chapter concludes by asking how believers might do God's work (Jn 6.28) in today's ecologically damaged world and by offering practical suggestions indicative of the reflection that readers of the commentary will be able to do in their own setting.