Hilary Marlow's monograph is a timely study in the context of the stalled Copenhagen process, the developing voice of the Earth Bible Project and other ecological readings of scripture as well as the efforts of various denominations of the church to engage with the theological and ethical issues raised by the reality of climate change. She has something to contribute in each of these spheres.

Although the thesis style is sometimes intrusive, Marlow is thorough in her various analyses and effectively marries expertise in the scientific arena with that of a close reading of Hebrew texts. There are also useful surveys of philosophical and theological influences through the intervening centuries. On the other hand, her hermeneutical scene-setting and review of the understanding of metaphor are too cursory; more extensive work on metaphor would have been useful in reading her chosen texts.

Marlow's declared sparring partner is Lynn White in the now-infamous 1967 Science essay. She is particularly effective as she shows how simplistic White's position is, and her breadth of interest and understanding is clear here; the debate then drops below the horizon. This is a shame; the concluding chapter might have had wider purport had she revived this dialogue alongside her other conclusions.

The main part of Marlow's work focuses on developing her reading model – what she calls the ecological triangle of interconnected relationships between God, humankind and non-human creation. She does this through detailed analysis of Amos, Hosea and Isaiah 1–39, and she draws out the references to creation and the different relationships which form that triangle. The detail is accessible, even to a non-Hebraist, and thorough, and she believes that this attention is long overdue. Though the various volumes of the Earth Bible Project (2000 onwards) appear in Marlow's bibliography there is, perhaps, insufficient engagement with the principles, methodology and innovative reading of the various contributors to that project. This is germane because Marlow suggests her own ecological model of reading provides the necessary new framework for engaging with scripture in today's environmental crises. In a good study, this is the weak point. First, because there should surely be deeper engagement with the Earth Bible Project but, second, because the ecological triangle is more complex than Marlow herself suggests.

The seeds of that complexity are, in fact, present in this study but the consequences are not drawn out. She shows that creation is, on one hand, the means by which God's judgement falls upon sinful humankind and, on the other, that creation suffers when God metes out God's judgement. Theologically, the implications of this complexity for the different relationships within her ecological triangle are significant. If God uses creation to punish (e.g. p. 148), the relationship is an instrumental one – in which case can humankind, Imago Dei, be blamed for treating creation similarly in an instrumental way? If, on the other hand, creation's suffering is understood as an outfall of the punishment (e.g. p. 152), then humankind's need for repentance from sin must reach those wider ripples in the pond. A further complexity arises when we perceive that the effects upon creation are felt by the poorest among humankind and thus interhuman relationships as well as God's concern for the most marginalised come again into view.

Marlow's ecological triangle for reading would thus appear too blunt an instrument for the detailed interpretation in which she engages. Nevertheless, for a first rereading of scripture in this context of environmental concerns it is useful to have these interconnections ready to hand as hermeneutical tools. We must also reiterate that this is an excellent and timely study.