Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The experience of the Exodus helped to establish a tradition of going to the wilderness
'for freedom and purification of faith' (Nash 1967:16). Elijah spent forty days in the
wilderness in order to draw guidance and inspiration from God (1 Kings 19:4-18). John
the Baptist was the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare for the coming of the
Messiah (Matthew 4:1), while Christ himself 'was led by the spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted by the devil' (Matthew 4:1; Mark l:12ff.). It was through the environment of
evil and hardship, characteristic of the dominant Judaeo-Christian perception of the
wilderness, that spiritual catharsis could occur, a sentiment that exists through to this day
(Graber 1978). (See Chapter 6 on the role of natural areas in rural tourism.)
The example of the prophets venturing into the wilderness was followed by early
Christian ascetics (Williams 1962). Hermits and monks established themselves in
wilderness surroundings in order to avoid the temptations of earthly wealth and pleasure
and to find a solitude conducive to spiritual ideals. As Tuan (1974) recorded:
The monastic community in the wilderness was a model of paradise set in
an unredeemed world. Wilderness was often perceived as the haunt of
demons but in the neighbourhood of the monastery it could acquire some
of the harmony of redeemed nature and the animals in it, like their human
suzerains in the monastery, lived in peace.
(Tuan 1974:148)
The desert ascetics drew on an appreciation of nature that sprang from the Bible itself. As
Glacken (1967:151) observed, 'The intense otherworldliness and rejection of the beauties
of nature because they turn men away from the contemplation of God are elaborated upon
far more in theological writings than in the Bible itself. The desert monks lived in the
solitude of the wilderness to remove themselves from other humans, not from nature.
Psalm 104 provides one of the clearest statements of the existence of a sympathetic
attitude in Christianity towards nature, noting that everything in nature has its place in a
divine order: 'the high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the
badgers' (Psalm 104:18). 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou
made them all' (Psalm 104:24). As Glacken (1967) noted:
It is not to be wondered at that Psalm 104 has been quoted so often by
thinkers sympathetic to the design argument and the physico-theological
proof for the existence of God. The life, beauty, activity, order, and
reasonableness in nature are described without mysteries, joyously—even
triumphantly. God is separate from nature but he may be understood in
part from it.
(Glacken 1967:157)
The theme of the wisdom of the Lord being shown in the order of nature was similarly
indicated elsewhere in the Bible. The psalmist in Psalm 8:1 exclaimed: 'O Lord, our
Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!' The notion that 'The heavens are telling
the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork' (Psalm 19:1) proved to be
influential throughout Christendom in the Dark and Middle Ages, although by no means
enabling a universally sympathetic attitude towards nature. Nature came to be regarded as
