The Book of Nature: An In-Store Event with Barbara Mahany

The Book Stall is excited to host renowned author Barbara Mahany on Sunday, September 10 at 2:00 pm for an in-store discussion of her new book, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text. Through literature, science, theology, and practice, author and beloved Chicago Tribune journalist Barbara Mahany introduces us to an ancient theology that understands God’s presence as first revealed to us in the natural world.

This event is free with registration. To register, please visit our website.

More About the Book: Throughout millennia and across the monotheistic religions, nature was often revered as a sacred text. By the Middle Ages, this text was given a name, “The Book of Nature,” and was the best entry point for encounter with the divine. The very act of “reading” the world, of focusing our attention on each twinkling star and unfurling blossom, humbles us and draws us into sacred encounter. As we grapple to make sense of today’s tumultuous world, one where nature is at once a damaged and damaging source of disaster, as well as a place of refuge and retreat, we are called again to examine how generously it awaits our attention and devotion, standing ready to be read by all. Weaving together the astonishments of science; the profound wisdom and literary gems of thinkers, poets, and observers who have come before us; and her own spiritual practice and gentle observation, Barbara Mahany reintroduces us to “The Book of Nature,” an experiential framework of the divine.

Scott Weidensaul, author of A World on the Wing, says “Regardless of where one’s spirituality (or lack of it) may lie, Barbara Mahany’s The Book of Nature is a deeply rich celebration of the ageless overlap between religion and the many faces of the natural world…Best of all, this thought-provoking exploration is wrapped in Mahany’s luscious and luminous writing, which makes every page a delight.”

More About the Author: Barbara Mahany, once a pediatric oncology nurse, was a staff writer at the Chicago Tribune for nearly thirty years and is the author of five books. Her first, Slowing Time: Seeing the Sacred Outside Your Kitchen Door, was named a Publisher’s Weekly Top Ten religion book for Fall 2014, and called “a field guide to your holiest hours.” Of her newest title, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text, it’s been written, “If Slowing Time is a field guide to your holiest hours, The Book of Nature is a field guide to your holiest places.” Barbara lives in Wilmette, along with her husband, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Chicago Tribune architecture critic, Blair Kamin.