![\"A](\"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/M-300x255.jpeg\")
<\/a>A book of nature photographs from Idaho and surrounding states.<\/p><\/div>\n
The title of my book, Through Both Creations Shine, will puzzle most who encounter it. The photos are of the natural world, especially landscapes, skies, plants, and animals. For this reason, the title\u2019s reference to creation will not be what many find puzzling.<\/p>\n
But \u201cboth\u201d creations?<\/p>\n
My book title comes from a hymn written by 18th century theologian and songwriter, Charles Wesley. Here are the opening lyrics of this hymn about creation:<\/p>\n
Author of every work divine \/ Who dost through both Creations shine
\nThe God of nature and of grace.
\nThy glorious steps in all we see \/ And wisdom attribute to Thee
\nAnd power and majesty and praise.<\/p>\n
The natural universe is one “creation” in this hymn. Wesley acknowledges in praise the work of God evident in the created order. If we have eyes to see, we can perceive the gloriously graced \u201csteps\u201d of our Creator. The title, \u201cThrough Both Creations Shine\u201d refers in part to my photographs of the natural world.<\/p>\n
The other hymn reference is to the new creation God also makes possible. Wesley has in mind a phrase from the Apostle Paul about humans becoming \u201cnew creatures\u201d (2 Cor. 5:17). The old is gone, because God transforms us into new creations.<\/p>\n
The reference to new creation reminds me that photographs are not bare representations of the external world \u201cout there.\u201d Photography is also, as photographer Galen Rowell puts it, an \u201cinner game.\u201d Photographs represent what is \u201cin\u201d the photographer\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n
The photographs in this book portray a particular vision, perspective, or view. They describe in part how I see creation. Because photographs offer the photographer\u2019s perspective, I like to say I \u201cmake\u201d photos rather than \u201ctake\u201d them.<\/p>\n
As a \u201cnew creation\u201d in Christ, my particular perspective on creation has been partly shaped by my vocation as a Christian theologian. In other words, the ongoing process of God creating me anew influences how I make photos of nature.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m deeply grateful to this book\u2019s designer, Paul Kinsman. He had several novel ideas that made the book so much better than had I tried to design it myself. His perspective influences the layout and design of this book. Scattered throughout the book are my original quotes related to God and nature. Some appeared previously in books I published over the years. Others I formulated in the summer of 2012 as I hiked 1,000+ miles from Nevada to Canada through the wilderness of Idaho. Still others are new. I offer these quotes to prompt sacred reflection.<\/p>\n Finally, I chose the title, \u201cThrough Both Creations Shine,\u201d because the word \u201cshine\u201d rightly suggests that photography has so much to do with light. It was Paul Kinsman\u2019s idea to shape the book into sections related to sunrises and sunsets. The Psalm I chose to frame it all depicts God\u2019s creative presence throughout:<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord be praised\u201d (Ps. 113:3).<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like a copy, you can\u00a0click here to get a printed copy<\/a> through Amazon. \u00a0Unfortunately, the print version is really expensive. The ebook version is much cheaper. You can get that by clicking here for an ITunes<\/a>\u00a0version\u00a0or here for a Blurb<\/a>\u00a0version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m excited to announce that my nature photography book, Through Both Creations Shine, is now available! This is a project many have pushed me to pursue, and it\u2019s gratifying to see it come to fruition. I\u2019m really happy with the result. The title of my book, Through Both Creations Shine, will puzzle most who encounter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[179,180,181,178,166,15,18,23,34,57,88,161,162,163,164,165,167,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,176,177],"yst_prominent_words":[4234,1139,1762,1922,2139,2751,2963,3458,4233,4235,4236,4237,4238,4239,4240,4241,4242,4243,4244,4245],"class_list":["post-2914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-and_the_kitchen_sink","tag-apostle-paul","tag-creating","tag-backpacking","tag-galen-rowell","tag-charles-wesley","tag-thomasjayoord","tag-theology","tag-oord","tag-thomas-oord","tag-creation","tag-nazarene","tag-photography","tag-photos","tag-pictures","tag-paul-kinsman","tag-through-both-creations-shine","tag-idaho","tag-wyoming","tag-hiking","tag-wilderness","tag-idaho-centennial-trail","tag-book","tag-theologian","tag-interpretation","tag-photographer","tag-photographer-theologian","tag-theologian-photographer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2914"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"IMG_8090_1_2-3a\"](\"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_8090_1_2-3a-300x200.jpg\")
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