Forming, Filling, Naming: The Lost Words as Creational Enchantment (Christian Eickenroht)

“Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children.”

So begins the preface to The Lost Words, written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris. Words for childhood like acorn, adder, and bluebell have been replaced with words like blog, bullet-point, voicemail. As this book plays with various genre, through word and image, The Lost Words re-enchants us into a vision of the natural world which is remarkably consistent with a biblical theology of creation. This talk looks at three themes which are central to the biblical account of creation: forming, filling, and naming. Macfarlane and Morris’ playful exploration of these themes re-enchants us into a participatory engagement with the natural world which does not claim mastery, but marvels at mystery—and thereby compels us to orthopraxy in creation-care.

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