What I consider fascinating is this idea of the “Book of Nature” just as there is a book of scripture. First introduced to me by Dr. Hugh Ross as a scientific companion for observation and study. Not necessarily as a book per se, but as a philosophical idea that we are living within to read, measure, observe, test, and understand. To quote Wikipedia, “The first use of the phrase [book of nature] is unknown. However, Galileo used the phrase, quoting Tertullian, when he wrote of how ” “We conclude that God is known first through Nature, and then again, more particularly, by doctrine; by Nature in His works, and by doctrine in His revealed word.”
(Buch der Natur).
To further see a physical manifestation of a book of nature, there is a medieval book of incunabula (Buch der Natur) which serves as a guide which also testifies of Ps 24:1, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. ” Both the book of scripture and the book of nature are used as a means to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Both books corroborate each other.
Contents of Buch of Natur (yr. 1475)
by Conrad of Megenberg
- The nature of man
- Sky, 7 planets, astronomy and meteorology
- Zoology
- Ordinary and aromatic trees
- Plants and vegetables
- Invaluable and semi-precious stones
- 10 kinds of metals
- Water and rivers.
What isn’t so obvious between these books is their relationship to God’s spiritual book of life as written about in Revelation 20:12. The books that were opened in John’s vision when he saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. So in addition to the book of life, were the books of “nature” and scripture opened among them?
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