Christ and the Created Order

Christ and the Created Order PDF Author: Zondervan,
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 031053609X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
According to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation not only of the nature of God the Creator but also of how God the Creator relates to the created order. The New Testament explicitly relates the act of creation to the person of Jesus Christ - who is also a participant within creation, and who is said, by his acts of participation, to have secured creation's ultimate redemption from the problems which presently afflict it. Christian theology proposes that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Wisdom of God, the agent in whom the Spirit of God is supremely present among us, is the rationale and the telos of all things - time-space as we experience and explore it; nature and all its enigmas; matter itself. Christology is thus utterly fundamental to a theology of creation, as this is unfolded both in Scripture and in early Christian theology. For all this, the contemporary conversation about science and faith tends, to a remarkable degree, to neglect the significance of Jesus Christ, focusing instead on a generic "God of wonder" or "God of natural theology." Such general theism is problematic from the perspective of Christian theology on many levels and has at times led to a more or less deistic theology: the impression that God has created the world, then largely left it to itself. Such a theology is far removed from classical Christian renderings of creation, providence, redemption, and eschatology. According to these, the theology of creation is not just about remote "beginnings," or the distant acts of a divine originator. Rather, the incarnate Jesus Christ is himself - remarkably - the means and the end for which creation itself exists. If we would think aright about our world, study it and live within it wisely, we must reckon centrally with his significance. What might such a bold claim possibly mean, and why is Jesus Christ said by Christian theology to be so important for understanding God's overall relationship to the created order? What does this importance mean for science? Christ and the Created Order addresses these questions by gathering insights from biblical scholars, theologians, historians, philosophers, and scientists. This interdisciplinary collection of essays reflects on the significance of Jesus Christ for understanding the created world, particularly as that world is observed by the natural sciences. Contributors to Christ and the Created Order include Marilyn McCord Adams, Richard Bauckham, Deborah Haarsma, Paul Moser, Murray Rae, James K. A. Smith, Norman Wirzba, N. T. Wright, and more.

Christ and the Created Order

Christ and the Created Order PDF Author: Zondervan,
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 031053609X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book

Book Description
According to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation not only of the nature of God the Creator but also of how God the Creator relates to the created order. The New Testament explicitly relates the act of creation to the person of Jesus Christ - who is also a participant within creation, and who is said, by his acts of participation, to have secured creation's ultimate redemption from the problems which presently afflict it. Christian theology proposes that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word and Wisdom of God, the agent in whom the Spirit of God is supremely present among us, is the rationale and the telos of all things - time-space as we experience and explore it; nature and all its enigmas; matter itself. Christology is thus utterly fundamental to a theology of creation, as this is unfolded both in Scripture and in early Christian theology. For all this, the contemporary conversation about science and faith tends, to a remarkable degree, to neglect the significance of Jesus Christ, focusing instead on a generic "God of wonder" or "God of natural theology." Such general theism is problematic from the perspective of Christian theology on many levels and has at times led to a more or less deistic theology: the impression that God has created the world, then largely left it to itself. Such a theology is far removed from classical Christian renderings of creation, providence, redemption, and eschatology. According to these, the theology of creation is not just about remote "beginnings," or the distant acts of a divine originator. Rather, the incarnate Jesus Christ is himself - remarkably - the means and the end for which creation itself exists. If we would think aright about our world, study it and live within it wisely, we must reckon centrally with his significance. What might such a bold claim possibly mean, and why is Jesus Christ said by Christian theology to be so important for understanding God's overall relationship to the created order? What does this importance mean for science? Christ and the Created Order addresses these questions by gathering insights from biblical scholars, theologians, historians, philosophers, and scientists. This interdisciplinary collection of essays reflects on the significance of Jesus Christ for understanding the created world, particularly as that world is observed by the natural sciences. Contributors to Christ and the Created Order include Marilyn McCord Adams, Richard Bauckham, Deborah Haarsma, Paul Moser, Murray Rae, James K. A. Smith, Norman Wirzba, N. T. Wright, and more.

Knowing Creation

Knowing Creation PDF Author: Zondervan,
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 0310536146
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
It is hard to think of an area of Christian theology that provides more scope for interdisciplinary conversation than the doctrine of creation. This doctrine not only invites reflection on an intellectual concept: it calls for contemplation of the endlessly complex, dynamic, and fascinating world that human being inhabit. But the possibilities for wide-ranging discussion are such that scholars sometimes end up talking past one another. Productive conversation requires mutual understanding of insights across disciplinary boundaries. Knowing Creation offers an essential resource for helping scholars from a range of fields to appreciate one another's concerns and perspectives. In so doing, it offers an important step forward in establishing a mutually-enriching dialogue that addresses, amongst others, the following key questions: Who is the God who creates? Why does God create? What is "creation"? What does it mean to recognize that a theology of creation speaks of a natural world that is subject to the observation of the natural sciences? What does it mean to talk about both a "natural" order and a "created" order? What are the major tensions that have arisen between the natural sciences and Christian thinking historically, and why? How can we move beyond such tensions to a positive and constructive conversation, while also avoiding facile notions such as a "god of the gaps"? Is it feasible for a natural scientist to maintain a belief in God's continuing creative activity? In what ways might a naturalistic understanding of the natural world be said to be limited? How can biblical studies, theology, philosophy, history, and science talk better together about these questions? At a time when the doctrine of creation - and even a mention of "creation" - has been disparaged due to its supposed associations with anti-scientific dogma, and theological offerings sometimes risk appearing a little more than reactionary exercises in naive apologetics, ill-informed by science or distinctly wary of engagement with it, it is more important than ever to offer a cross-disciplinary resource that can voice a positive account of a Christian theology of creation, and do so as a genuinely broad-ranging conversation about science and faith. Contributors to Knowing Creation include Marilyn McCord Adams, Denis Alexander, Susan Eastman, C. Stephen Evans, Peter van Inwagen, Christoph Schwobel, John H. Walton, Francis Watson, and more. X

Christ as Creator

Christ as Creator PDF Author: Sean M. McDonough
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191610348
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This book examines the New Testament teaching that Christ was the one through whom God made the world. While scholars usually interpret this doctrine as arising from the equation of Jesus and the Wisdom of God, Sean McDonough argues that it had its roots in the church's memories of Jesus' miracles. These memories, coupled with the experience of spiritual renewal in the early church, established Jesus as the definitive agent of God's new creation in the New Testament writings and the teachings of the Early Church. Following the logic that 'the end is like the beginning' Christ was taken to be the agent of primal creation. This insight was developed in light of Old Testament creation texts, viewed from within a 'messianic matrix' of interpretation. God gives his Word, his Spirit, and his Wisdom to his Messiah from the very beginning; and the Messiah, the radiance of God's glory, establishes the cosmos in accordance with God's purposes. Creation is the beginning of messianic dominion; he rules the world he made. McDonough carefully substantiates his thesis through a detailed exegesis of the relevant New Testament texts in the context of related texts in Judaism and Greco-Roman philosophy. He concludes with a survey of the doctrine of Christ as Creator in the work of six theologians: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Karl Barth, Jürgen Moltmann, and Wolfhart Pannenberg.

The Beauty of the Lord

The Beauty of the Lord PDF Author: Jonathan King
Publisher: Lexham Press
ISBN: 1683590597
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Why is God's beauty often absent from our theology? Rarely do theologians take up the theme of God's beauty—even more rarely do they consider how God's beauty should shape the task of theology itself. But the psalmist says that the heart of the believer's desire is to behold the beauty of the Lord. In The Beauty of the Lord, Jonathan King restores aesthetics as not merely a valid lens for theological reflection, but an essential one. Jesus, our incarnate Redeemer, displays the Triune God's beauty in his actions and person, from creation to final consummation. How can and should theology better reflect this unveiled beauty? The Beauty of the Lord is a renewal of a truly aesthetic theology and a properly theological aesthetics.

The Priority of Christ

The Priority of Christ PDF Author: Robert Barron
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 158743198X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
For a long time, Christians have tried to bridge the divide between Christianity and secular liberalism with philosophizing and theologizing. In The Priority of Christ, Father Robert Barron shows that the answer to this debate--and the way to move forward--lies in Jesus. Barron transcends the usual liberal/conservative or Protestant/Catholic divides with a postliberal Catholicism that brings the focus back on Jesus as revealed in the New Testament narratives. Barron's classical Catholic post-liberalism will be of interest to a broad audience including not only the academic community but also preachers and general readers interested in entering the dialogue between Catholicism and postliberalism.

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation PDF Author: Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631495747
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The “paradigm-influencing” book (Christianity Today) that is fundamentally transforming our understanding of white evangelicalism in America. Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism—or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.” As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the centrality of popular culture in contemporary American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals might not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Trump in fact represented the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values: patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community. A much-needed reexamination of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, Jesus and John Wayne shows that, far from adhering to biblical principles, modern white evangelicals have remade their faith, with enduring consequences for all Americans.

Christ and Creation

Christ and Creation PDF Author: Colin E. Gunton
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1597522473
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
The relation, the connection, between Christ and creation is the subject of this book, which author Colin Gunton describes as a summary dogmatic christology. Central to Gunton's christology are a strong incarnation-creation link and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Constituting the published version of the 1990 Didsbury Lectures delivered by Gunton at British Isles Nazarene College, 'Christ and Creation' offers thought-provoking reflections on major theological themes and realities: creation, redemption, the Trinity, horizontal and vertical relatedness; Christ's incarnation, virgin birth, passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; election, freedom, the Kingdom of God, and the church. Weaving pneumatological, teleological, eschatological, anthropological, and ecological strands into his christology, Gunton draws from and interacts with a wide range of theologians, from ancient to modern - Paul, Irenaeus, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Calvin, Schleiermacher, Barth, Moltmann, Pannenberg, Thomas Torrance, John Robinson, and many others.

Creation and Salvation

Creation and Salvation PDF Author: E. M. Conradie
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 3643901364
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Christians trying to "save the planet" have to relate "creation" with "salvation." This volume explores the ways in which classic theologies have approached these tasks.

Problem and Promise in Colin E. Gunton's Doctrine of Creation

Problem and Promise in Colin E. Gunton's Doctrine of Creation PDF Author: William B. Whitney
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004254625
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
While much dialogue has focused on aspects of Colin Gunton’s Trinitarian theology, there has been a need for a full-scale study of Gunton's doctrine of creation that locates the significance of his understanding of creation within the wider spectrum of his theology. Problem and Promise demonstrates how Gunton's doctrine of creation cannot be read in abstraction from his Trinitarian theology and argues that creation remains a central feature in Gunton’s writing that holds lasting importance for understanding ethical and moral aspects of Gunton’s theology. William B. Whitney establishes how this Trinitarian account of creation goes beyond offering a theological description of the created realm and also provides the basis for understanding human involvement in creation through the enterprises of culture.

True North

True North PDF Author: Mark Liederbach
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1433676885
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A Christian ethics professor explores the person and work of Jesus Christ in relation to creation, redemption, and the restoration of all things, explaining why creation care involves more than global warming debates.