In the Shadow of Christ

In the Shadow of Christ presents a fresh theological interpretation of nature’s violent and suffering character, as determined by God’s self-interpretation in Jesus Christ. Grounded in the rich spiritual tradition of premodern natural theology, Wiertel retrieves a figural reading of nature that interprets the entire span of created existence through Scripture’s symbolic landscape. This restored vision of the "two books," rooted in God's creative and redemptive word, establishes an interpretive framework that sees all of creation—its beauty, its strangeness, and its tragedies—through the creative dynamics of God’s revelatory speech. In this essay, Wiertel critically embraces scriptural figuration, with its profoundly Christocentric metaphysical orientation, to offer a rich theological vision of creational suffering. By engaging Scripture and the natural world figurally and in critical dialogue with contemporary philosophy, ethics, and biology, Wiertel unfolds an expansive theological narrative. He maps creation’s suffering within the mystery of Jesus Christ, inviting readers to see all of natural history as a divine gift ordered toward its eschatological transformation.