Others, like Stevens, Dillard, and (to some extent) Kathleen Norris would turn to the sacramental life of the Catholic Church in search of additional support for their love of the natural world.81 The Reformed tradition may have been able to incite in them an early delight in the glories of nature. But they were soon put off by its alternative tendency to steer them away from the School of the Creatures lest they fall into idolatry, a Catholic dependence on “images,” or a slide into pantheism. The fragmented faith of their childhood ultimately failed to provide the resources they needed for
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