Ecology and faith seem to be seeing eye to eye more often these days as authors blend their interest in climate, flora, fauna, and more in new books that also highlight the role God or a higher power play in the world. Indeed, there's such an interest that the Book Industry Study Group created a new BISAC code last fall for Religion/Christian Theology/Ecology.

“It’s about time," said Valerie Weaver-Zercher, an acquiring editor at Broadleaf, which has three books in this category this spring. “Books about the natural world and faith do the important work of integrating two spheres that humans have too long divorced.”

Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling by Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder (out now) has been excerpted in The Atlantic and the author interviewed on NPR’s “Maine Calling” program. The book "offers a compelling reframe, asking what we can learn from mothers in the natural world about how to live on the edges of changing conditions,” said Weaver-Zercher. “Drawing on a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, as well as a deep well of scientific knowledge, Steinauer-Scudder reaches toward the sacred, which she said ‘gives us a glimpse into the vast, entwined, eternal network of living beings.’”

Field Guide to Church of the Wild by Victoria Loorz and Valeria Luna Serrels (out now), is a follow-up to their Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred (2021). Weaver-Zercher says that first title “quickly became a book that helped shape a movement” as people of faith began and kept gathering in wild places to worship. She describes the Field Guide as "a handbook to a movement that we already knew existed and that would collect the wisdom and stories of wild churches in many different places.”

Broadleaf’s third title in the category is Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees (April 22) by Beth Norcross and Leah Rampy. It expands on the pair’s six-week video course taught via the Center for Spirituality in Nature, where Norcross is founder. “The book weaves together poignant narrative and accessible spiritual practices for connecting with trees as spiritual teachers,” said Lisa Kloskin, who edited the title for Broadleaf.

A Revell author digs into both history and Scripture from the ground up in Stones Still Speak: How Biblical Archaeology Illuminates the Stories You Thought You Knew by biblical archeologist Amanda Hope Haley (Sept.). Haley highlights the importance of studying the complete context of well-known biblical stories such as Moses and the Red Sea and Jonah and the whale, according to the publisher. Rachel McRae, executive editor for Revell Books said, “By challenging 2,000 years of cultural interpretation, readers will better understand the purpose of God’s Word through historical, archaeological, literary, and scriptural context.

Rachel G. Jordan integrates science with biblical truth in If the Ocean Has a Soul: A Marine Biologist’s Pursuit of Truth Through Deep Waters of Faith and Science (Tyndale Refresh, June). She addresses questions such as what do suffering and death teach us about the character of Jesus and what do the ocean and sea creatures reveal about God, according to the publisher.

Two new books look at debates surrounding origin theories in life and in the Bible. John H. Walton's eighth title in the Lost World Series, New Explorations in the Lost World of Genesis (IVP Academic) released April 15. This volume updates and expands on the earlier books in the series that has sold more than 125,000 copies. According to the publisher. Walton brings in current scholarship, answers frequently asked questions in the unending creation/evolution debates, and explores the Bible's seven-day creation account.

Biologist and former atheist Sy Garte, in Beyond Evolution: How New Discoveries in the Science of Life Point to God (Tyndale Refresh, Aug.) challenges both scientists and people of faith. According to the publisher, Garte highlights how new developments in biology and new evidence of cellular-level agency and decision-making provide strong evidence of a creator God.