New Book by Seminary Director Bastiaan Baan
Lord of the Elements
Interweaving Christianity and Nature
The four classical elements of earth, water, air and fire are present in Genesis and the New Testament. But while traditional Christianity moved away from seeing the spiritual in nature, other streams of thought — such as Celtic Christianity, the School of Chartres, medieval mystics like Hildegard von Bingen and the alchemical search for the philosopher’s stone — continued to emphasize the importance of the elements. In this unique book, Bastiaan Baan, an experienced spiritual thinker, brings these elements together with ideas from Anthroposophy. He considers in particular how elemental beings — nature spirits — relate to the four elements, and explores the role of elemental beings in our world. This is a fascinating and original work on the connections between Christianity and the natural world.
The book is available from Floris Books at www.florisbooks.co.uk
About the Author: Rev. Bastiaan Baan worked as a teacher in the Netherlands before being ordained in 1981. He was a Christian Community priest in the Netherlands and is currently Director of the North American Seminary in Spring Valley, NY. He lectures widely and has written many books. Lord of the Elements is his first book to be published in English.
Baan cites and refers to Ursula Burkhard’s *Karlik* in his book. Burkhard writes of her encounters and relationships with elemental beings. Karlik has been unavailable in English, but may now be found in its entirety at this site: https://karlikblog.wordpress.com/. Please feel free to share with interested readers. There’s much of value here.