A Spiritual Field Guide provides meditation resources for Christian readers who want to be more deeply in touch with their feelings and connections to God while in the great outdoors.
A Spiritual Field Guide Overview
A Spiritual Field Guide can evoke spiritual stirrings, even in those who have no religious affiliation, although it is primarily written for Christians. The meditations in the book are meant to be used anywhere in nature – on a day trip or during a more extended time period in the outdoors.
While most selections are from the Bible, there are also some from writers such as Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, Barbara Kingsolver, Mother Teresa, Chief Seattle, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Julian of Norwich, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Henry David Thoreau and St. Francis of Assisi. There are also quotations from astronauts Edgar Mitchell, James Irwin and Gene Cernan. The selections are culturally familiar, with references to the Garden of Eden, the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and some from other religious traditions in the case of selections taken from Buddhist scriptures.
A Spiritual Field Guide as a Devotional Reader
A Spiritual Field Guide is designed expressly for those who love the outdoors. The biblical reflections on the natural world, humanity's place in nature, and the role of tradition of "wilderness" in seeking and communicating with God.
Each chapter includes a series of prayers, meditations, and quotes drawn from Scripture and history's most observant and devout lovers. For example, one day features Wendell Berry, Genesis 1:1-25 and Augustine of Hippo. It quotes the late Sigurd Olsen, one of the finest naturalist writers, who wrote: "I named this place Listening Point / because only when one comes to listen, / only when one is aware and still, / Can things be seen and heard. Everyone / has a listening-point some / where. It does not have to be in the / north or close to the wilderness, but / some place of quiet where the universe / can be contemplated with awe."
The authors, Barnard Brady and Mark Neuzil, provide a reading plan for time spent in the outdoors – for an afternoon, a day or a week spent in nature to provide an understanding the relationship to it and the divine. It can be used on a long trek, a short vacation or a day-long trip or while simply sitting in a garden. It is meant to draw each person nearer to God through contemplating the wonders of creation.
They made the point that, "Jesus often went to the sea, up the mountain, or into the desert. Nature was a way through which he entered into prayer and sensed the divine on earth. Each one of us would do well to do the same."
About the Authors of A Spiritual Field Guide
Bernard Brady serves as professor of theology at at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Miinn, a Catholic institution. He is also the author of the Moral Bond of Community and Christian Love.
Mark Neuzil is an associate professor and chair of journalism and mass communication at the University of St. Thomas. He is the author of Views of the Mississippi and co-author of Mass Media and Environmental Conflict. He has worked in journalism for more than twenty-five years.
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Readers may also enjoy Thanksgiving Prayers Past and Present, along with Vanishing America and Religious Freedom Day.
Sources:
- Brady, Bernard and Mark Neuzil. A Spiritual Field Guide. Ada, MI: Brazos Press, 2005.
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