‘We garden on our knees’: Kew Theology & Gardening project explores faith, nature and climate

(RNS) — From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Christ for a gardener, cultivated green spaces have long held a special place in Christianity.

Now, in a corner of west London, an Anglican church is using its proximity to one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, Kew Gardens, as a reason for a new venture linking theology and nature. St Anne’s Church launched a new charity, Kew Theology & Gardening , to help deepen people’s connection with nature, develop theology of the environment and explore climate change.

The project started small in 2024 with talks for the local community but has since expanded to holding retreats, partly held in Kew Gardens and partly in St Anne’s. Now the charity is hosting major lectures.

The most significant so far will be held this September, when Carmody Grey, professor of integral ecology at Radboud University in the Netherlands and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, will talk on Sept. 30 on “What Are We Here For? Gardening and the Human Vocation” in the garden’s lecture theater.

A previous lecture was given by the then-director of gardens at Kew,…