In this essay the author, George Huntston Williams, explores the views of nature which have been held throughout the history of the Christian church. George Huntston Williams (1914-2000) was Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. Among his works were The Radical Reformation, St. Anselm, Norman Anonymous, and The Role of the Laity. He was an editor of Harvard Theological Review, and of Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, and a contributor to the Library of Christian Classics. Wilderness and Paradise in Christian Thought is an expansion of Dr. Williams' presidential address to the American Society of Church History. It was delivered on the fiftieth anniversary of Frederick Jackson Turner's famous paper presented to the American Historical Society on the influence of the frontier on American history. Rev. James D. Smith III (ThD, Harvard) is professor of church history at Bethel Seminary San Diego and associate pastor of La Jolla Christian Fellowship.