Book notes: The Theater of His Glory: Nature & the Natural Order in the Thought of John Calvin, by Susan E. Schreiner

This book has been waiting patiently on my bookshelf for about 20 years, ever since a friend gave it to me as a present. The prospect of beholding new scenic wonders on this RV trip motivated me to finally read it, and I’m glad I did.

The key insight for me from Schreiner’s book is that God loves his creation, both the natural world and mankind, and for that reason he has not completely abandoned them to the forces of chaos and evil. This truth allows the Christian believer to more accurately see the hand of God in nature. As Schreiner writes,

Calvin insisted that the created world was not evil or alien to the believer. He stressed, therefore, not only the restraint of sin but also the remaining goodness and integrity of nature and society. Society was not, in Calvin’s view, the realm of darkness but was that arena in which the Christian pursued holiness. Calvin’s God did not reject his creation but continued to exercise providence over the “work of his hands” and to reveal his glory in this earthly “theater.” …

As the human soul is gradually restored to (and even surpasses) the original order characteristic of the image of God, so too the believer returns to that originally intended activity: namely, the contemplating of God’s revelation written in the book of nature and revealed in the visible splendor of the world.

Another useful insight from the book is that both nature and our own lives depend on the constant attention and benevolence of God. On p. 32, Schreiner quotes a vivid passage from Calvin on how precarious life on this earth really is and the multitude of ways a 16^th century man could be struck down at any moment by an assortment of physical calamities. I’ve had more than one occasion on this RV trip to give thanks to God for watching over us during moments when things could have gone terribly wrong. We don’t appreciate that our lives are in God’s hands every moment of every day.