Rather than interloper or exploiter, Guroian argues, man's essential role on the Earth is that of a gardener, gifted with the responsibility to cultivate creation and offer it as thanksgiving to God. We are "apprentices" to the "Master Gardener." "Paradise is not wilderness," he writes, which will surely provoke discussion among his readers. "Paradise is a garden, cultivated by Adam and blessed by God." Without human presence, he argues, creation is mute and cannot glorify the Creator. He quotes Byzantine churchman Leontis of Neapolis to bolster his argument: "The creation does not venerate the Creator directly and by itself, but it is through me that the heavens declare the glory of God, through me the moon worships God, through me the stars glorify him, through me the waters and showers of rain, the dews and all creation, venerate God and give him glory."