Earlier this year, Holmes Rolston III, winner of the 2003 Templeton prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities was interviewed by Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology about his views on nature's diversity and spirituality. During the interview, he commented on the Bible's views of nature.
"If you leave the Genesis Scriptures and go to places like the Psalms, or the book of Job, or the Wisdom literature, you repeatedly find people reflecting on the majesty and wonder of nature outside the domain of human experience. Or in the teachings of Jesus, he said look at the lilies of the field. They exceed the splendor of Solomon and all his glory. It is true that we are 'more than sparrows,' but God still counts the sparrows. Jesus seems to me to find the presence of God powerfully present in various features of the landscape. And I think that can be used to coincide with or complement the language of intrinsic value. The language of intrinsic value is not something found in Scripture, but Scripture does not use a lot of words we know. The Scripture does not use the word 'nature.' The Scripture does not use the word 'history.' But those ideas are present there. So the idea of a sort of worth, or dignity, or integrity of the creaturely world seems to me to be widespread in
Scripture, and I think that is the equivalent of what I mean by saying there is intrinsic value in natural things."
