Finding God in the Garden: Backyard Reflections on Life, Love, and Compost

(Paperback)

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Grieving after the death of a beloved daughter, Rabbi Balfour Brickner struggled with his faith while preparing a flowerbed. One day the rabbi found himself writing down the thoughts that came to him as he turned the soil, and observing nature's abundant examples of order and renewal, miracles and beauty, Rabbi Brickner found his faith returning like a garden in spring. Using the garden as a sanctuary and springboard, Rabbi Brickner considers the lessons to be learned from the tasks of caring for the land, the wonder of a garden in full bloom, and the connections between Biblical teachings and botanical life. Finding God In The Garden is a passionate, witty, and provocative celebration of mature religious faith derived through nature, reason, and the joys of everyday work. Explores rational spirituality, reconciling faith with enlightened thought.

Reviews

"Brickner contemplates the lessons learned in the garden--birth, death, reproduction, sexuality, patience, hope--and assigns each its spiritual counterpart as he examines the complexities of religious faith. Whether exploring the nature of miracles or the mystery of creation, Brickner, as both rabbi and gardener, provides counsel that is scholarly, eloquent, and eminently down-to-earth."
"Brickner has sharp things to say about patience, memory and loss, the role of miracles in an orderly universe, and about the interplay of moral, ethical, and factual truths in the pseudodebate of science versus religion.... Good, sweaty work: All this turning of the spirit's and mind's soil yields a nourishing outlook on life."
"This absorbing volume starts in a garden but wanders deliciously--as gardeners' thoughts often do--to politics, culture, sex, and death, and always with insights that make the spade work of reading it well worthwhile."