"Christianity has long sought to learn from nature as a 'book', full of examples to illustrate religious teaching and signs of divine and saintly interventions in human history. Some Christians have even tried to live in harmony with nature in utopian communities. This volume bears witness to lively scholarly debate on these and other aspects of its theme, and covers a wide chronological, geographical and thematic range stretching from missionary encounters with the New Worlds of Australia and Latin America to popular and learned responses towards nature in early modern Italy and Hungary."--Jacket.