Overview

This addition to our popular Guides for the Perplexed series tackles a subject that is enjoying renewed debate: Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, claims that the universe is not a brute fact. It is 'created'. But what do we mean by 'creation'? Do we mean that the universe is 'designed'? Is it the product of an evolutionary process? How are creatures related to God, and does God act within creation? Simon Oliver begins with the background to the Christian theology of creation in Greek philosophy and the Old Testament. This provides a route into understanding the claim that we are part of a created order that is also the theatre of God's providential action. He examines different understandings of creation, including creation out of nothing and the analogy of being, with close reference to the work of patristic and medieval theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. This leads to an historical overview of the relationship between theological, philosophical and scientific approaches to creation in the modern period. Some of the ethical issues concerning humanity's place within, and treatment of, creation and our environment are also examined. A distinctive yet traditional theology of creation is proposed focused on the concepts of gift and participation as ways of understanding more fully the meaning and implications of the claim that the universe is created.

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9780567656094

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Reviews

This year I learned a lot from Simon Oliver’s Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed, which begins with Genesis and ends with the contemporary environmental crisis – but its heart is an account of Thomas Aquinas’s profound theological vision that is almost dazzling in its lucidity. * Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year * This is a very fine book. I suspect it is one that will continue to be read for a good many years. * Church of England Newspaper * A valuable summary of modern scholarship about the circumstances under which Genesis was written as well as a review of the theories of the Church Fathers as to how the text was to be interpreted. * Times Literary Supplement *

There are few scholars today who are sufficiently versed in the tradition of theological reflection on creation, fewer still who possess both the theological and philosophical acumen required to make sense of it, and even fewer who have the ability to distil that tradition and explain its relevance in highly accessible prose. Simon Oliver is one of those rare scholars, and this work is a correspondingly rare achievement. one could not ask for a better introduction to the doctrine of creation - not just in its historical origins and scope, but also in its dazzling metaphysical depth. John Betz, University of Notre Dame, USA Oliver offers more than a cutting edge introduction to a key topic of Christian doctrine. He combines his unique skills as a didactically experienced common sense philosopher with an extraordinary historical erudition. This will not only provide future scholars with a firm grounding in the tradition of Christian learning. Since his book enables us to see through the pseudo-problems of half-educated philosophers, scientists and opinion leaders, it will also create space for the engagement with real challenges of our time: to face the spiritually, socially and ecologically devastating consequences of our techno-scientific world-view, which are anything but an inescapable adverse effect of the history of scientific progress. Johannes Hoff, Heythrop College London, UK

There are few scholars today who are sufficiently versed in the tradition of theological reflection on creation, fewer still who possess both the theological and philosophical acumen required to make sense of it, and even fewer who have the ability to distil that tradition and explain its relevance in highly accessible prose. Simon Oliver is one of those rare scholars, and this work is a correspondingly rare achievement. one could not ask for a better introduction to the doctrine of creation - not just in its historical origins and scope, but also in its dazzling metaphysical depth. * John Betz, University of Notre Dame, USA * Oliver offers more than a cutting edge introduction to a key topic of Christian doctrine. He combines his unique skills as a didactically experienced common sense philosopher with an extraordinary historical erudition. This will not only provide future scholars with a firm grounding in the tradition of Christian learning. Since his book enables us to see through the pseudo-problems of half-educated philosophers, scientists and opinion leaders, it will also create space for the engagement with real challenges of our time: to face the spiritually, socially and ecologically devastating consequences of our techno-scientific world-view, which are anything but an inescapable adverse effect of the history of scientific progress. * Johannes Hoff, Heythrop College London, UK *

Author Information

Simon Oliver is Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK.

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