Seashells: A Theology
My son and I often go out collecting seashells. He thinks they are beautiful, and I do, too. We love their variety, and we love to talk about the shells we find—their colors and shapes, their ridges and smooth places, and the creatures (soft-bodied mollusks) who once lived inside them. We certainly do not talk theology, but I have to admit that, for me, seashells are a kind of theology. They are my sacred texts. Just as beautiful as the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible. I turn to them when I seek a sense of what life is about and where I might turn in the future.
Each shell is a scripture of its own, telling the story of a life already lived while inviting me toward possibilities yet to come. Its ridges, colors, fractures, and smooth places are the news it brings—much of it good news, but not all of it. The fractures have a message, too. They remind me of life’s vulnerability amid its beauty. I am not sure we could have the beauty without the vulnerability.
The mollusks who once lived inside these shells, now vanished, might disagree. After all, their shells were armor. I do not want my appreciation of broken beauty to obscure the entirely legitimate desire of living beings to survive without becoming prey to others. Still, brokenness is part of life, and we must somehow come to terms with it. Even the mollusks had to face death, and from their death came a kind of beauty. It is said that God is found in beauty. I find God in seashells. I decided to make a list of what I find in seashells. Here it is - my seashell theology:
I am sure you can add to the list. Please do so.
- Imagined by Jay McDaniel
Each shell is a scripture of its own, telling the story of a life already lived while inviting me toward possibilities yet to come. Its ridges, colors, fractures, and smooth places are the news it brings—much of it good news, but not all of it. The fractures have a message, too. They remind me of life’s vulnerability amid its beauty. I am not sure we could have the beauty without the vulnerability.
The mollusks who once lived inside these shells, now vanished, might disagree. After all, their shells were armor. I do not want my appreciation of broken beauty to obscure the entirely legitimate desire of living beings to survive without becoming prey to others. Still, brokenness is part of life, and we must somehow come to terms with it. Even the mollusks had to face death, and from their death came a kind of beauty. It is said that God is found in beauty. I find God in seashells. I decided to make a list of what I find in seashells. Here it is - my seashell theology:
- Interior depth and hidden mystery
- Spirals of repetition and novelty
- A diversity of patterns, colors, and forms
- Beauty created by more-than-human life
- Homes created from within
- Growth through the incorporation of the past
- Strength and stability joined with fragility
- Life emerging from the depths
- Empty shells as witnesses to vanished lives
- The sound and memory of the sea (especially if you listen to the seashell)
- The spiritual journey as both inward and outward
I am sure you can add to the list. Please do so.
- Imagined by Jay McDaniel
Every shell has a story to tell. Discover the secrets of these treasures of the sea
This beautifully illustrated book written by marine biologist Helen Scales is the perfect companion for all aspiring shell spotters.
- Publisher's Description
- Supported by the National Trust, who look after over 700 miles of Britain’s coastline.
- Turns any beach into a treasure hunt. A simple, nostalgic pleasure and a connection with the wonders of nature.
- Beautifully illustrated and packed with surprising and delightful facts.
This beautifully illustrated book written by marine biologist Helen Scales is the perfect companion for all aspiring shell spotters.
- Publisher's Description
The beautifully written story of shells and their makers, and our relationships with them.
Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet.
But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close.That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food.
Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology.
Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution.
Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.
- Publisher's Description
Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet.
But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close.That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food.
Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology.
Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution.
Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.
- Publisher's Description
Seashells: A Scholarly Discussion
Misha Glenny and guests discuss a familiar feature of our beaches: seashells, from their astonishing shapes and patterns that teach us about Earth’s oceans, to the ways that humans have treasured shells throughout history. Seashells appear in the mythologies of countless cultures across the world - think of Botticelli’s Venus emerging from a giant scallop shell, Vishnu's sacred horn panchajanya, or the Aztec god Quetzalcōātl’s talisman cut from a conch shell. The urge to collect shells seems to be as old as our species. We’ve used them as decoration, currency, and musical instruments. But shells aren’t just beautiful objects washed up on our beaches. Many belong to one of the most diverse groups of the animal kingdom, Mollusca, and the remarkable morphology of forms and structures they grow in offer insight into the past, present, and future of the marine world.
With
Suzanne Williams
Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum
Liz Harper
Professor of Evolutionary Malacology in the Department of Earth Sciences and Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge
Helen Scales
Marine biologist and Author.
Producer: Martha Owen
Reading list:
S. Peter Dance, Shells (DK, 2022)
A.R. Irwin, S.T. Williams, D.I. Speiser and N.W. Roberts, ‘The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas’ (Journal of Experimental Biology 225:16, 2022)
Michael F. Land and Dan-Eric Nilsson, Animal Eyes (Oxford University Press, 2012)
Andreia Salvador, Interesting Shells (The Natural History Museum, 2022)
Helen Scales, Shell Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Molluscan Lives (University of Chicago Press, 2026)
Helen Scales, The Shell Spotter's Guide (National Trust Books, 2024)
Helen Scales, What a Shell Can Tell: Where They Live, What They Eat, How They Move, and More (Phaidon Press, 2022)
Helen Scales, Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015)
Paul D. Taylor, Fossils: The Essential Guide (University of Chicago Press, 2025)
Suzanne Williams, ‘Molluscan shell colour’ (Biological Reviews, 2017)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios production
With
Suzanne Williams
Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum
Liz Harper
Professor of Evolutionary Malacology in the Department of Earth Sciences and Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge
Helen Scales
Marine biologist and Author.
Producer: Martha Owen
Reading list:
S. Peter Dance, Shells (DK, 2022)
A.R. Irwin, S.T. Williams, D.I. Speiser and N.W. Roberts, ‘The marine gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae) has high-resolution spatial vision and eyes with complex retinas’ (Journal of Experimental Biology 225:16, 2022)
Michael F. Land and Dan-Eric Nilsson, Animal Eyes (Oxford University Press, 2012)
Andreia Salvador, Interesting Shells (The Natural History Museum, 2022)
Helen Scales, Shell Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Molluscan Lives (University of Chicago Press, 2026)
Helen Scales, The Shell Spotter's Guide (National Trust Books, 2024)
Helen Scales, What a Shell Can Tell: Where They Live, What They Eat, How They Move, and More (Phaidon Press, 2022)
Helen Scales, Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015)
Paul D. Taylor, Fossils: The Essential Guide (University of Chicago Press, 2025)
Suzanne Williams, ‘Molluscan shell colour’ (Biological Reviews, 2017)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios production