The focus of this chapter is Gregory’s ordering of exegetical, spiritual, administrative, intellectual, emotional, and gendered knowledge across his oeuvre. The sections are organised by genre into three groups according to the kind of knowledge ordered within. Gregory’s homilies and commentaries on scripture were primarily intended to convey exegetical knowledge within a framework that prioritised divine law as the primary ordering principle in the social hierarchy. His Pastoral Rule and the Dialogues both employed knowledge of the human passions to teach spiritual truths and offer practical advice for living a Christian life in emotional communities. Gregory’s many letters inscribed his strictly hierarchical social order, with special attention to networks of women of influence outside Rome. A constant feature across Gregory’s oeuvre was the coupling of spiritual and intellectual knowledge for the benefit of all levels of society and for the sake of the church.

How do we perceive the rest of nature meaningfully from the vantage point of our manufactured spaces? Whether the life teeming in a tropical forest, or surviving tenaciously on the remote reaches of the planet, we impact life that we probably never see first-hand. Our impact is from the manifestation of our nature, which is creative, industrious and prolific. Unfortunately, our impact threatens the stability of the only biosphere we can call home. How can human nature be connected to instead of orphaned from the rest of nature? No matter how much data we acquire about the crises we create for ecosystems, there remains tremendous inertia to apply the principal remedy: changing our behaviour. This implies the necessity to expand our focus from quantitative deduction of the problem and solutions, to ensuring we have the inner connections and relationships necessary for qualitative response to environmental stress. Does art create this sensitive bridge?