Attending to Creation

This chapter examines how Christian environmentalists cultivate contemplative attention to creation—its beauty, abundance and as gift—that operates as grace-as-sanctification that in turn shapes discipleship and activism. Analysing interviews and surveys, it traces practices of contemplation, awe and wonder; ‘gift’ economies; and experiences of God’s presence in nature. The chapter maps minority transcendence and majority immanence/panentheism positions; notes changing uses of imago Dei alongside responsibilities to other creatures and assesses idealised turns to indigeneity and Celtic spirituality. It argues that graced encounters motivate action yet risk a ‘romanticism’ that underplays nature’s negative aspects. This chapter shows how sanctification-as-aesthetic resources Christian environmental commitment.