Arvidsson, Bengt S. E., Natural Theology and the Theology of Nature. Nature as a symbol in Danish Spirituality about 1600.
In many works of spirituality published in Denmark around 1600, nature, God's creation, is a dominant theme. Nature is seen as a great work of art, but also as an open book, Liber Naturae. The whole of creation and each and every plant and animal had something to tell man about God, and were a symbol of the divine. The theologians and natural scientists of that time had close affinities. Theologians seriously studied the scientific literature of the age. The empirical study of nature was a characteristic feature of the Renaissance of the sixtennth century. An interest in Aristotelian metaphysics around 1600 led to a deeper appreciation of nature. It was not only to be observed and registered, but was also to be the object of reflection and contemplation. This emphasis on nature in pious literature is examined by the author from two points of view: natural theology and the theology of nature. The contemporary interest in nature is related to baroque, metaphysics and the embryonic school of the theology of nature. Various confessional aspects of the conception of nature are also studied. In the final chapter, the author discusses nature motifs in art, ie. Dutch landscape painting, from the point of view of the history of theology.