The Fragrance of God [Paperback]

Vigen Guroian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2006

In this literary gem Vigen Guroian chronicles not merely the changing seasons but the course of his own life as he and his family move from Maryland to a new home near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Leaving the old garden behind and cultivating another garden become an emblem of our journey through life, marked as it is by both bitter losses and sweet new blessings.

While deeply personal, The Fragrance of God vividly unfolds the great biblical themes of the grandeur of God’s creation, the senses as “paths” to experiencing God, and the garden as a “place” of birth, death, and renewal.

Laced throughout with quotations from Guroian’s beloved church fathers and replete with theological reflection, The Fragrance of God will lead readers down a path of deeper insight into the creation and the Creator.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Frederica Mathewes-Green — author of The Open Door "Earthy in all the best senses, The Fragrance of God recalls us to the beauty of creation. Guroian is expert at demolishing the kind of spirituality that gets overly spiritualized; he reminds us that God fills and blesses this blooming, growing, changing world."

Bill McKibben — author of The End of Nature "Vigen Guroian’s fine book is proof that Christians would do well to spend more time outdoors, in the one great megachurch that operates as a planet-scale museum of divine intent."

Lee May — author of Gardening Life and My Father's Garden "Vigen Guroian, a gifted storyteller, shares his own constant passion for digging in the dirt amid life’s many changes, reminding us of the universal power and appeal of gardening, that wondrous journey toward our own Paradise rich with plants, stories, beauty, peace, and spirituality."

Roberta C. Bondi — author of Memories of God "This is a lovely book, shimmering with the very beauty of God."

Barbara Brown Taylor — author of When God Is Silent "Even those with no dirt under their fingernails may find comfort and challenge in this testament to the resilience of divine life."

About the Author

Vigen Guroian is Professor of Religious Studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He tends a large perennial and vegetable garden with his wife, June, in Culpeper, Virginia. His books include Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening, Life's Living toward Dying (both Eerdmans), and Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination (Oxford).

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802830765
• ISBN-13: 978-0802830760
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gardeners and the Master Gardener, November 2, 2007

By 

Eleanor Cavin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fragrance of God (Paperback)

This book grows on a person. I liked it and will like it more. I gave it to gardeners I know who, in turn, really liked it. It puts gardening in contemporary play and worship reminding the one who gardens of the first commission to tend the garden, and so, also of the Master Gardener.

Lovely. Probably one of the books I'll re-read annually.