Book excerpt: This book presents a realistic and thoroughly spiritual outlook upon the entire created reality. It lets us envisage that various created entities are participant in a relationship with God that becomes increasingly one of an intimate personal quality; that is, a relationship of love. It thus invites discernment that the universal reality is valuable in its own right and not only as a good for the use of humanity. Drawing mainly upon Scripture, ancient writers (especially Maximus the Confessor), as well as contemporary natural sciences, this book encourages the reader to perceive human salvation not as a lifting of humanity out of creation, but as a transformation into God's presence in the midst of the wider created order. It shows that Christian faith at its best does not exclude the wider creation but provides us with insight and hope for a harmonious being-in-God that is inclusive of creation. It shows that Christian faith can be a resource that helps overcome the ecological crisis.