Creation and the God of Abraham

✍ Scribed by David B. Burrell, Carlo Cogliati, Janet M. Soskice, William R. Stoeger

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 288
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Creatio ex nihilo is a foundational doctrine in the Abrahamic faiths. It states that God created the world freely out of nothing - from no pre-existent matter, space or time. This teaching is central to classical accounts of divine action, free will, grace, theodicy, religious language, intercessory prayer and questions of divine temporality and as such, the foundation of a scriptural God but also the transcendent Creator of all that is. This edited collection explores how we might now recover a place for this doctrine, and with it, a consistent defence of the God of Abraham in philosophical, scientific, and theological terms. The contributions span the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and cover a wide range of sources, including historical, philosophical, scientific and theological. As such, the book develops these perspectives to reveal the relevance of this idea within the modern world.

✦ Table of Contents

Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Contributors......Page 9
Preface......Page 13
Background to the volume......Page 15
Summary of the chapters......Page 16
Introductory remarks......Page 21
Creation in the Old Testament......Page 25
Creation ex nihilo in the early Church......Page 30
Augustine on creation......Page 34
Introduction......Page 38
The biblical account and the name of God......Page 39
The Jewish and Christian foundations......Page 44
Final thoughts......Page 52
Introduction......Page 54
Aquinas’ strategies......Page 56
What a free creation portends......Page 59
A Platonic legacy......Page 61
A Platonic corollary: participation......Page 63
Creator and creatures – a non-Duality?......Page 64
Introduction......Page 67
Scotus on being and modes of being......Page 68
Scotus and contingent being......Page 71
Creation, co-operation and the Age of Enlightenment......Page 75
Introduction......Page 79
That every existing thing depends upon a cause......Page 80
Theology and the limits of scientific inquiry......Page 84
Conclusion......Page 89
Introduction......Page 91
Avicenna’s account of creation......Page 92
The principle of co-existence......Page 94
The sempiternity of the universe......Page 97
Some objections......Page 100
Four conceptions of creatio ex nihilo and the first level of compatibility questions......Page 105
(a.1) Temporal-historical conception (TH) of CEN......Page 106
(b.1) Essential non-temporal conception (ENT) of CEN......Page 107
(b.2) Responses......Page 108
(c.1) Objective meta-temporal conception (OMT) of CEN......Page 109
(c.2) Responses......Page 110
(d.1) Substantive temporal non-historical conception (STNH) of CEN......Page 111
(d.2) Responses......Page 112
CEN and the implications of Big Bang cosmology......Page 113
(a) Strong interpretation of the Big Bang (SIB)......Page 114
(b) Weak interpretation of the Big Bang (WIB)......Page 116
Conclusion......Page 120
Introduction......Page 121
Volition versus necessity......Page 125
The paradox of creation......Page 131
Two meanings of contingency......Page 134
Mulla Sadra’s fluid world order......Page 137
Conclusion: creation as monistic theophany......Page 144
Introduction......Page 147
Aquinas: creation and emanation......Page 150
Balthasar: difference and the dynamism of Trinitarian love......Page 156
Newton on God and motion......Page 161
Conclusion......Page 164
Introduction......Page 166
The universe and its evolution......Page 167
The Planck era and “the beginning” of the universe......Page 171
Insights from quantum cosmology......Page 174
The basic insight of creatio ex nihilo......Page 183
Conclusion......Page 188
Introduction......Page 190
Can science meet theology?......Page 191
Artificial systems......Page 193
Underpinning of life......Page 194
Sensory evolution and convergence......Page 198
The brain as an ‘antenna’......Page 202
Introduction......Page 206
Part I: causality and modes of inference in the history of science......Page 209
(a) Retroductive inference......Page 210
(b) Deductive and inductive inferences......Page 211
(c) Back to retroduction......Page 213
(a) Verified intelligibilities......Page 217
(b) Verified intelligibility and relations......Page 219
(c) The significance of distinct sciences in accounting for verified intelligibility......Page 222
Part III: creatio ex nihilo and the intelligibility of dual causality......Page 225
(a) Creatio ex nihilo: a brief overview......Page 226
(b) Creatio ex nihilo and ultimate cause......Page 227
(c1) An ambiguity......Page 229
(c2) Relation and movement......Page 231
Conclusion......Page 234
Creation and divine action......Page 235
(b) Divine action through created causes......Page 237
(c) God and chance......Page 240
(a) Two understandings of freedom......Page 242
(b) Theological compatibilism and incompatibilism......Page 244
(c) A third way?......Page 246
(d) Double agency and free action......Page 249
Introductory remarks......Page 252
Three Aristotles......Page 257
Discovery, description, deduction......Page 259
Philosophy versus theology of science......Page 261
Index......Page 273