And the Trees Clap Their Hands: Faith, Perception, and the New Physics

by Virginia Stem Owens

Ever since Newton, people - including Christians - have considered matter to be strictly mechanical, uninformed by any "spirit" and without sentience. Such a view, says Virginia Owens, "demotes to mere metaphor" all the natural imagery of Scripture that calls for creation to participate in the praise of its maker. Now, however, contemporary physical theory offers us an expanded view of the cosmos, which suggests that it is indeed sentient and informed with knowledge. For Christians, Virginia Owens argues in this book, the cosmos bears witness to the Incarnation itself. Owens offers a brief history and exploration of physics, interwoven with vivid and provocative perceptions of the physical world (reminiscent of the writings of Annie Dillard). The heavens really do proclaim the glory of God, Owens insists. "The prophet's figure of trees clapping their hands is a living reality." "And the Trees Clap Their Hands" will appeal to all general readers who are interested in the relationship between faith and our understanding of the physical world.

Genres: Nature, Faith

164 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one has finished a good meal, it is done. The food consumed can no longer be eaten again.
Thankfully, a good book can be read again. This is one worth reading a second time. It will be richer and more meaningful.

Owens does a phenomenal job of articulating our connection as followers of Christ to the physical world and seeks to help us understand the mystery of the seemingly mundane. She succeeded at that for me.

[Nancy Moffett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hard book; I need to read it again to try to understand the physics. But I loved the stretch, the attempt I had to make to grasp truths I usually don't grapple with. I resonated deeply with the author's reasoning. What a great book to add to my library and to which I will return repeatedly.

[haley whitaker]

Equally enchanting and confusing, but that's okay. This book celebrates the splendor of the cosmos, from the macro to micro level, galaxies to gnats. It also challenges us to re-enchant the world, reject our modern gnosticism, and see the mighty weight of God's abundant life in his handiwork. Virginia STUNNED me at the end with this quote, on the heels of a long argument against pitting the 'dirty' material against the 'superior' spiritual:
"For it is bodies that are baptized, bodies that eat and absorb the Body of Christ, bodies that will be raised, glorified and incorruptible. It is tongues that confess and knees that bow. Perhaps we are so willing to reduce ourselves to abstractions of thought, principles of personality, because God, too, could then be an abstraction or a principle, and not a person.
How dare we say we feed Christ in the hungry, harbor him in the stranger, succor him in the sick, if we believe the Incarnation is over and done with? God save us from perverting metaphors to moralizing. Is "Christ in us" only sentiment? Is time stronger than eternity, and has it kicked God himself back upstairs to his properly ethereal realm? Do we gloat over our own transience and our decaying corpses, thinking that can hold him at bay?"

[Graig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this book to be about the environment and creation care because of the mention of trees in the title. Instead, it was a little like Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but at the tiniest level of the universe, quarks and the like. Most of it was too far over my head, I’m afraid, for it to be enjoyed by me. (The author is compared to Annie Dillard, but I like the latter’s books far more than I liked this one.) I enjoyed the last couple of chapters more as they were more relatable by me, as she talked about bigger stuff, like mountains, rivers, and people. All in all, I’m not motivated to go search out other books by the author—and there are many.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a profound little book. A book to read and re-read, ponder and meditate on, talk about. What is existence? What is matter? Why do we divide life into sacred and secular? The author deftly weaves ideas about quantum physics into lush poetic prose evocative enough to make the stones cry out. Yet she is writing for the layperson, not the scientists who had their chance and ignored the evidence.

Find this book. Read it.

[I am thankful for the editors of “Disciplines for the Inner Life” (Thomas Nelson, 1989) for including a long excerpt from the final chapter of this book on pg 230 of their fine devotional. It compelled me to find and read.]

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written, but the physics isn't always correct, and the spiritual reflections don't entirely connect with the physics.

[Melz Ebersole · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while for me to sort out what this book was wanting to say, but I loved the ending.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of poetic, nonfiction essays connecting phenomenology, imagination, metaphor, the "spooky" side of quantum mechanics, and the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation.