Theology of Creation

Among the many psalms that refer to creation, Pss 8 and 104 stand out in being entirely devoted to this theme. Whereas Ps 8 highlights the prominent, even exalted, human role in the created order, Ps 104 contextualizes humanity as but one creature among many in a complex intertwined cosmos. Nevertheless, upon closer study, it becomes evident that both psalms share elements of a common worldview, including a remarkably similar view of what constitutes being human, a conception of the world as a cosmic temple, and a rejection of the motif of creation-by-combat against primordial enemies. An exploration of the diversity-in-unity of Pss 8 and 104 yields insights into how their common theological vision may address the human vocation of the use of power in a world understood as a sacred realm over which God is enthroned, yet into which evil has intruded.

Careful attention to the biblical text and to St Maximus inspire human beings to revalue creation, their home and not long for its destruction but for its redemption alongside the redemption of the children of God. It is only through the contemplation of the Logos that humans can discern the creation as a sacramental means through which humans can encounter the power of the resurrection that leads them deeper and deeper into the divine nature.

Alfa e Omega è un breve manuale che, come indicato dal titolo, studia la protologia e l’escatologia cristiana, alla luce del cristocentrismo trinitario e del principio sintetico. La luminosità di Cristo risorto si espande verso gli inizi della storia e anche verso la fine di essa. Le diverse dimensioni del disegno trinitario creatore e salvifico confluiscono nel mistero di Cristo, in modo tale che né la creazione è solo la questione dell’origine né l’escatologia è solo il problema del destino, ma entrambe si collegano in Colui che ne dà ragione della loro identità presente. Essendo Cristo il Logos, la sua luce non contrasta con la ragione umana, ma la porta al suo vero compimento. In questo senso, ci si avvale in queste pagine in modo particolare della compagnia di due grandi maestri, Tommaso d’Aquino e Joseph Ratzinger, nell’intento di mostrare, nello sviluppo dei diversi temi che compongono la protologia e l’escatologia, non solo la compatibilità della congiunzione dell’approccio metafisico con quello storico-salvifico ed esistenziale, ma anche la fecondità di una tale sintesi. Il manuale è destinato agli studenti del primo ciclo degli studi istituzionali, ed è frutto di più di quindici anni d’insegnamento.

The article surveys recent scholarship on the use of creation imagery in the Gospel of John, with the aim of presenting rather exhaustive register of possible references. Both the obvious and the less clear-cut allusions to Gen 1–3 are discussed, the main focus being to accumulate and assess evidence (for or against) all the apparent references to creation imagery. Included in this examination are several unconvincing and even far-fetched proposals advanced by some modern scholars, in order to give the fullest possible picture of current discourse on these issues. After discussing the creation theme in the Prologue (1:1–18), the article explores the presence of creation imagery in the Book of Signs (1:19–12:50) and the Book of Glory (13:1–21:25)

Classical Occultism – i.e. Spiritual Tradition – very often rests on imitation of old usages and forgotten rituals – or on texts and images the inner (i.e. esoteric) content of which is recog¬nized only by Initiates. This most typically applies for old sacred scriptures where cosmic and supra-cosmic processes are com¬mented under the veils of ciphers, myths, pseudo-history, and tales about countries or family clans.

Creation myths of all cultures throughout space and time most clearly illustrate this fact : They report how a God – or a community of gods – conjure ‹out of nothing› an Universe along with its physical and spiritual processes that are, usually, consciously perceived again only by Initiates.

Modern Science since the century of ‹Enlightenment› have always tried to supplant such myths by so-called ‹objective› discoveries and ‹facts›. However, it has become clear, more and more, that those ‹scientific› views are just another myth – but which remains blind to the essence of things, namely : to what we call Spirit, Light and Life. – The popular myth of the ‹Big Bang› – so typical for noise and aggression in our modern world – is the grossest cancerous outgrowth thereof.

The present book brings a Genesis in twelve Theses, in a modern language on the basis of the simplest symbols ever. Its elucidations by P. Martin, occasionally using some neologisms for relations never described before, include the paradigmata of oldest myths, but in the meantime formulate a consequent synthesis of modern Physics and classic spirituality : It also shows where the fundamental Hermetic laws come from ; how divine idea-forms  grow into material realities ; how the Kingdoms of Nature came forth – and the principles of the spiritual Path of Transfiguration  leading to the redemption of Humanity.     

Besides the Aquarius Genesis, this book contains two tales in a typical mythic style, making visible the inner Plan of the Uni¬verse, along with a scenic dialogue and a classic philosophical treatise: «About the Essence of Being» is a modern theory of ideas which – authored 60 years ago – already achieves to reduce all processes to vibrational cycles, and to Energy.

Numerous pictures, some of them full-page, and in-depth Notes explaining further the text and images complete this book.

An international review comments :
«Thus it must be : Old Truths of the Past are being confirmed by the new Truths of today !»

Paper-Back, richly illustrated, 248 pp. – ISBN  978-3-907103-02-9

The change in the average lifespan of man, from almost a thousand years in pre-flood times to the present day norm of seventy years, is explained by earth orbital changes, triggered by events in the solar system, at the time of Noah’s flood. These changes also provide answers for the mechanics of the flood and presage even more dramatic realignments of the solar system at the return of Christ.

I saw the movie The Matrix when it first came out. I enjoyed the movie and intuitively knew that there was something very profound about it. In the movie, the majority of humanity is imprisoned in an artificial, digitally simulated world called The Matrix. I think the story of Plato's Cave sheds some light on the story. When a person's view of reality is restricted for their entire life experience, it's understandable how they might come to believe that that's all there is. For example, people don't believe that they or others can be great, dignified, people with vision and commitment to love and care for all of humanity. I think that is exactly what is happening to humanity now. We are living in a reality created by the collective consciousness of people living from their false selves. People who don't realize that reality is bigger than they know, and there is another way to live, will be unaware, limited, and confined. If a person does not develop the capacity to envision the possibility of a "better life", or loses hope of its possibility, or has no idea how to pursue it, resignation and hopelessness are understandable. Like Plato, I propose the idea that the reality experienced by most of us is an Illusion. I go one step further and assert that it must be the case because our reality is generated by the collective consciousness of people who are living from their false selves. That which is false is not real, that which is not real cannot produce that which is real. I suspect that the things that I am saying will be met by many with disbelief, and maybe worse.

Le concept de « création continuée » fait partie des défis que l’écologie pose actuellement à la théologie. Au sein de l’« Évangile de la création » au n°80 de Laudato si’, il s’agit de valoriser une des raisons de penser que les créatures portent en elles une valeur propre et intrinsèque (LS 16). D’ailleurs le pape François évoque saint Thomas d’Aquin pour penser la continuation de la création (LS 80). A-t-il eu raison de le faire ? Cette contribution explore la compatibilité du concept de création continuée comme interprétation théologique chrétienne du surgissement de nouveauté dans l’histoire de la vie sur Terre, et dans l’univers et non pas comme simple conservation de la création. Dans quelle mesure ce concept est-il intégrable dans la théologie de la création de saint Thomas d’Aquin ?

The recent publication of Laudato si’ by Pope Francis offers a good opportunity to rethink on the theological relation between our faith in God the Creator and the fulfillment of creation in Christ. In this paper, taking as a point of departure for theological reflection the prepositions of the Christological hymn of the Letter to the Colossians, I sustain that the Christocentric approach of contemporary theology has to be conceived in such a way that it can leave a space for the necessary dialogue that Christians are called to hold with Non-Christians and also with Nonbelievers in our multi-cultural society.

The uploaded version of the article is my PDF of the publication.
One of the new constellations which, in my opinion, will be much debated on in the post-pandemic time will be the theological interpretation of Creation and of the aims of Creation within the Christian tradition. In my view, this will represent a central subject within the theological debate, since this topic directly involves the goal as such of Creation, on the one hand, and the position, value, right, and duty of mankind within Creation, on the other. The related questions are whether God’s action of Creation is directed to affirming the pre-eminence of mankind and the right of domination of man over all other created entities, or whether God’s action of Creation includes all the created entities in an equal way without God designating superiority to any created entity over any other entity.
In my contribution, I am therefore going to deal with two mutually opposed interpretations of Creation and of the corresponding relations existing among God, mankind, and all the other creatures. The first interpretation could be synthesised in the formula Dominium Terrae of man over other creatures. The second interpretation could be described as God designating to humankind the stewardship of nature. The notions of the two interpretations of God’s Creation have consequences – for mankind’s attitudes and orientations towards nature – which are completely different from each other.
- The first interpretation, which has, as its central feature, foundation, and principle, the notion of man as the image of God, considers mankind as the centre of creation. This interpretation confers to mankind a position of absolute privilege over all of the other creatures; all of nature bows to mankind. The direction of God’s Creation is anthropocentric meaning all creatures and nature in its entirety are at the disposal of mankind, since mankind has received from the very word of God the legitimation for the dominion over nature. Nature is regarded as an object to be used and which can be used. It has no actual worth, no actual value as such; it has no independent position in reality.
- The second interpretation, which insists on the commonality among all creatures, assigns a common dignity to all creatures. God is seen as being present in all of Creation: through Creation, mankind is assigned the duty of stewardship over all of nature. The direction of God’s Creation is not anthropocentric. Mankind is assigned and has thus a precise responsibility towards nature. This responsibility outlines exact limits as regards the use which mankind can make of nature: mankind may exercise no dominion over nature.
Hence, the two interpretations of the Theology of Creation bring about different considerations of nature and of the relationships between mankind and nature. Furthermore, they express different conceptions of mankind as such. In my opinion, the debate on the interpretation of God’s relationship with the created entities and, within this general relationship, the mutual opposition between an anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric Creation will be more present than ever in the post-pandemic time due to its relevance for the general orientation of mankind towards nature. The Theology of Creation involves furthermore a general meditation on the aims and the limits of the technical power towards nature.
For my analysis, I shall concentrate my attention on some passages taken from Genesis, the Wisdom of Solomon, and from Paul the Apostle. To find ideas and suggestions for my analysis, I have referred to the books of Robin Attfield, Environmental Ethics: An Overview for the Twenty-First Century, and of Jürgen Moltmann, Ethik der Hoffnung.
I take full responsibility for the ideas expressed in the analysis.

Press, Louisville, Ky. 256 pages REVIEWED BY KEN KOVACS The latest work by theologian Ian A. McFarland is a significant, groundbreaking theology of creation. It's an example of rigorous theological reasoning done in service to the doxological and missional life of the church. For these reasons,

Creation motifs stand out as an important link between the Pentateuch and texts that are commonly attributed to Wisdom literature. At the same time, in the Book of Job, references and allusions to divine acts of creation turn up frequently throughout the dialogue part, namely in God’s speeches (Job 38–41). Unequivocal references to Gen 1–3, however, seem to be very rare, Job’s desperate wish יהי חשך (Job 3:4) as inversion of God’s יהי אור (Gen 1:3) appearing as the most frequently mentioned case. In recent research, opinions are divided: Whereas on the one hand e.g. Beyer (2011) and Balentine (2013) emphasize the references in Job (1–)3 to Gen 1:1–2:3, Schmid (2007:244–5) and Kwon (2018:63–65) regard the connections between these texts as rather slight. In my paper, I re-evaluate the literary relation between the creation accounts in the Pentateuch and the creation motifs in the dialogue part of the Book of Job. In particular, I will focus on the motifs of “light” and “darkness” in Job’s initial lament (Job 3) and God’s first speech (Job 38–39). My aim is to show that God’s speech rhetorically functions as ironic rebuttal of Job 3, whereas Gen 1(–3) serves as essential background to which both Job’s lament and God’s answer subtly allude.

Depicting the Creation of Woman presented a special problem for Renaissance artists. The medieval iconography of Eve rising half-formed from Adam's side was hardly compatible with their commitment to the naturalistic representation of the human figure. At the same time, the story of God constructing the first woman from a rib did not offer the kind of dignified, affective pictorial narrative that artists, patrons, and the public prized. Jack M. Greenstein takes this artistic problem as the point of departure for an iconographic study of this central theme of Christian culture. His book shows how the meaning changed along with the form when Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, and other Italian sculptors of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries revised the traditional composition to accommodate a naturalistically depicted Eve. At stake, Greenstein argues, is the role of the artist and the power of image-making in reshaping Renaissance culture and religious thought.

Vastness of Universe: The Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the stars, the satellites and the galaxies etc. form our universe. A wreath like arch of stars, stretching across the sky is the Milky Way. It is a part of our galaxy, which is an enormous system of clouds of glowing gas and 100 billion stars. Our universe contains about 1011 galaxies. Our universe is vast. No one knows whether the universe is finite or infinite in size. The observable universe is a few tens of billions of light-years across. A light-year is a distance travelled by light in one year, at the speed of 300,000 kilometres per second. It is equal to 9.46x1012 kilometres. The bright, unusual objects called quasars are the most distant objects in the universe found to date. Quasars may be as far as 16 billion light-years from the earth. Even with all the latest scientific paraphernalia of radio telescopes, X-rays, observatories and space technology, our scientists are unable to find the edge of the universe. So until now, scientists could not find the limits of the creation. In this article, an attempt is made to describe Guru Nanak's exposition on the vastness and various other aspects of of the Universe.

Teniendo en cuenta los recientes estudios sobre la Trinidad creadora según Santo Tomás, nos proponemos exponer los principales textos del Aquinate al respecto, bajo la perspectiva de la armonía entre fe y razón. Este enfoque consiente afirmar que la doctrina tomista de la Trinidad creadora se sitúa como punto de unión entre el Dios Uno Creador de la razón y el Dios Trino Salvador de la fe, de manera que una adecuada mediación metafísica, lejos de conducir al extrinsecismo de la gracia, permite adentrarse en la unidad del misterio de la creación y la salvación en Cristo.

Arguably, no greater issue exists than the one elicited in the questions, “Where did we come from, and what is our purpose?” This paper will examine ancient works that presumed to answer these two questions regarding the creation of mankind. It will contrast the Mesopotamian and biblical perspectives on the purpose of the creation of mankind.

Benedict XVI referred in a homily to the relation between creation and covenant with the formula created by Karl Barth in his Church Dogmatics. Taking occasion on this, the aim of the present study is to analyze the first reception of that formula in the Catholic theology. We consider here three important works published in the fifties of last century: those of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri Bouillard and Hans Küng. All of them accept the formula, with suggestions and criticisms, that vary according to the author, as we summarize in the final balance. Five hundred years after the reformation, we can see in this fact a fruit of the theological aspect of the ecumenical dialog.

This paper will reflect theologically on the theme of creation in the Wisdom of Solomon.  As the book’s structure falls roughly into three main sections (chaps. 1-6, 7-10, 11-19), we will divide our study accordingly into three major emphases on God-the-Creator: God’s design in creation; God’s wisdom in creation; and God’s providence in creation.

2,4a als Magna Charta des biblischen Schöpfungsglaubens Karl Ernst Nipkow zum 80. Geburtstag I. Jenseits von Evolutionismus und Kreationismus »Mir ist, als gestände ich einen Mord« -als Charles Darwin im Oktober 1836 von seiner Weltreise mit dem Vermessungsschiff »Beagle« heimgekehrt war und sich seine Absicht, Pfarrer zu werden, verloren hatte, gestand er seine neue Sicht über die Entstehung der Arten am 11. Januar 1844 brieflich gegenüber seinem Freund J.D. Hooker (1817Hooker ( -1911 1 in der zitierten Weise ein. Seine bestürzende Erkenntnis, deren umfangreiche Ausformulierung noch über 20 Jahre auf sich warten lassen sollte -die »Entstehung der Arten« erschien am 24. November 1859 -, läßt sich rückblickend so zusammenfassen: Die Arten sind nicht konstant, sondern haben eine Abstammungsgeschichte hinter sich, die sich über Jahrmillionen entwickelt hat. Diese, auf einen göttlichen Erstverursacher verzichtende Evolutionstheorie 2 , die Darwin wie ein Mord am Schöpfungsglauben vorkam, war für die meisten seiner Zeitgenossen eine ungeheuere Herausforderung. Allerdings: »Das Mysterium vom Anfang aller Dinge«, so schränkte er in seiner posthum erschienenen Autobiographie ein, »können wir nicht aufklären; und ich jedenfalls muß mich damit zufriedengeben, Agnostiker zu bleiben.« 3 Heute, 150 Jahre nach Erscheinen der »Entstehung der Arten«, hat sich der Wind gedreht -aber nicht für alle. Seit den 60er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts hat sich, ausgehend von den USA, der Kreationismus formiert, der den biblischen Schöpfungsbericht wörtlich nimmt und gleichzeitig unter Absage an den Gedanken der Evolution behauptet, daß die Lebewesen in der Schöpfungswoche so von Gott geschaffen wurden, wie sie heute existieren, oder zumindest als Grundtypen, aus denen die heutigen Arten in wenigen tausend Jahren hervorgingen. Diese These 1 Darwin, Briefe, 169: »Ich habe massenweise Bücher über Landwirtschaft und Gartenbau gelesen und nie aufgehört, Fakten zu sammeln. Endlich hat sich ein Lichtstrahl gezeigt, und ich bin nahezu überzeugt (völlig entgegengesetzt zu meiner anfänglichen Ansicht), daß die Spezies nicht unveränderlich sind (mir ist, als gestände ich einen Mord). (...) Ich glaube das einfache Mittel entdeckt zu haben (das ist die Vermessenheit!), durch das die Spezies so ausgezeichnet an verschiedene Zwecke angepaßt sind«, vgl. Engels, Darwin, 126. 2 S. dazu etwa Engels, aaO 118ff. 3 Darwin, Mein Leben, 103. 16 S. dazu Schüle, aaO 134ff und Janowski / Krüger, Gottes Sturm, 18f. 17 Groß, Das Negative, 149. 18 Vgl. Weippert, Schöpfung, 21. 19 Zur Kritik an einer creatio ex nihilo als Leitvorstellung von Gen 1,1-2,3 s. Levenson, Creation, 14ff; Weippert, aaO 21f; Keel/Schroer, Schöpfung, 174f u.a. Schüle, Prolog, 112 spricht statt von creatio ex nihilo von creatio ex tumulto: Die Welt von Gen 1 »geht aus dem anfänglichen Tohuwabohu hervor, das zurückgedrängt, nicht aber beseitigt wird«. Zum Verständnis von »Chaos« im Alten Testament s. Janowski, Chaos, 103f (Lit.). 20 Groß, Creatio ex nihilo, 485 (Hervorhebung von mir).

Michel Weber, Féminisme épidermique et utopie viscérale. Signes, symboles, et archétypes, Louvain-la-Neuve, Éditions Chromatika, 2020 ; ISBN 978-2-930517-72-8, ISBN E-book 978-2-930517-73-5

Comment repenser la sexualité et le « genre » ?
Relire la Genèse et le Prologue de l’évangile de Jean à partir de prémisses féministes donne une idée très vive de la chape idéologique et conceptuelle qui a été coulée sur l’inconscient collectif par les monothéismes, finalement assistés par les catégories philosophiques platoniciennes.
Revisiter le féminisme contemporain à la lumière du sens commun et de la perspective jungienne sur le processus d’individuation permet alors d’en relativiser efficacement les enjeux.

Michel Weber est professeur adjoint de philosophie à l’Université du Saskatchewan (Canada). Il pratique également la thérapie psychocorporelle ayurvédique (Cabinet Metabyanga) et le coaching existentiel (Centre Tonaki).


Les libraires peuvent s’adresser à <[email protected]> pour obtenir une réduction confraternelle.

Die vom Menschen verursachte globale Naturkrise fordert die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Mensch und Natur seit längerem heraus. Zur Debatte steht auch der revisionsbedürftige Einfluss biblischer Dogmen („Macht euch die Erde untertan“) auf naturvergessene Lebens orientierungen und Verhaltensweisen. Die wechselseitige Übersetzungsarbeit dieses Buches verbindet heutige Naturethik mit einer Neulektüre der Schöpfungserzählung von Genesis 1 und eröffnet einen Dialog zwischen bibelbezogener Frömmigkeit und säkularer Naturethik, der auch in religionsphilosophischer Hinsicht wesentlich über das traditionelle Gottesverständnis hinausgeht. Der Brückenschlag führt im Rahmen einer nachmetaphysischen Gott-Bezogenheit zu einem Neuverständnis der Natur als Schöpfung und des Menschen
als kohabitatives Naturwesen, das trotz seiner Fragwürdigkeit und Prekarität im stets erneuerungsbedürftigen Schöpfungsvertrauen fähig ist, mit Lust und Freude seine fundamentale Verantwortung für die naturgegebenen und von ihm bedrohten Lebensgrundlagen achtsam und dankbar wahrzunehmen.

When does the Sabbath begin?  In the most comprehensive article to-date on the subject, Fentiman demonstrates from Scripture that the Sabbath has always been from dawn-to-dawn since Creation throughout Scripture, without exception.  ‘Morning’ in Gen. 1 is more accurately translated as ‘dawn’, the phrase signifying that each day of Creation ended with dawn, with the next day beginning therefrom.  The Old Testament speaks of days starting from the morning or dawn in over 30 verses. The Israelites kept the Sabbath morning to morning in Ex. 16 and the rest of Old Testament history is consistent with this reckoning.  The New Testament throughout its pages likewise reckons days to start in the morning. The Temple in the New Testament counted the hours of the day from 6 A.M.  The disciples’ buying of spices in the evening after the death of Jesus is shown to be inconsistent with an evening-to-evening reckoning of the Sabbath.  The Resurrection accounts assume continuity with the Old Testament reckoning, when Christ rose from the dead.  Christ celebrates the Lord’s Day in Jn. 20:19 with the disciples in the evening of the 1st day of the week, which the apostles continued to practice in Acts 20:7-11.  The corruption of the Sabbath by Jewish traditionalism, keeping it from evening to evening, likely started in the inter-Testamental era and was preserved in their Talmuds.  A very full survey of the inter-Testamental and extra-Biblical literature is surveyed on the issue, as well as reformed history.  Make your heart assured on this Scriptural subject and make the Sabbath a delight (Isa. 58:13-14)!

This paper argues for the ethics of the body from a biblical perspective, engaging Lutheran ethics of freedom, Luther and Lutheran scholarship. The broader areas of discussion circulate around the ethics of the body in Creation, Incarnation and Resurrection theology. Discussed centrally within the paper is the ethics and connection between the Body of Christ in the Lord’s Supper and the Christological centrality of good works towards the neighbour. The lesser areas of discussion consider somatophobic feminism, bodily freedom and responsibility with an ethical treatise towards Tattoos, examining Leviticus 19:28, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and its Pastoral Considerations. It concludes tattoos are adiaphora, however consideration must strongly be made for the one of weaker faith (Rom. 14ff.).

À la question : Dieu seul peut-il être dit créateur ? La réponse semble simple et claire : « Si la création est comprise au sens strict, il est clair qu’elle ne peut convenir qu’au premier agent »1, à savoir Dieu. Mais, outre le fait que de nombreux philosophes et théologiens ont défendu la possibilité et le fait d’un créateur créé, le nier ne signifie pas encore le justifier.

[Premier chapitre avec bibliographie et table des matières]

Dans sa weltanschauung, Teilhard distingue trois niveaux de perception: physique ou phénoménologie, métaphysique ou hyper-physique, et mystique. Mais l’objet de perception est toujours la réalité toute entière. Dans le contexte teilhardien, physique signifie un type de phénoménologie, une phénoménologie du cosmos, de la vie, et particulièrement,
de l’humanité et de son histoire. Les questions concernant le futur de l’humanité et de l’univers font donc partie de la physique de Teilhard. La métaphysique ou hyper-physique interprète le processus d’évolution comme un effet d’unification, comme un processus de création et un processus de christification. Or, le concept teilhardien d’évolution ne se limite pas à l’évolution biologique mais il comprend aussi l’histoire de l’univers et l’histoire de l’humanité.

La crisi del Covid-19 è stata annunciata da scienziati lungimiranti. Molto prima di loro, la Bibbia ha dato un avvertimento che deve essere ascoltato di nuovo. In Gen 1,28, il Dio creatore stabilisce Adamo come custode delle specie animali e lo rende garante della loro distinzione. Lungi dall’essere un’antologia di oscurantismi, la Bibbia è il precipitato di una saggezza al tempo stesso immemorabile e profetica; sa che il rapporto tra l’uomo e le specie animali è un luogo temibile, dove è in gioco qualcosa di divino.

Some authors deny the personhood of the intellectually disabled, while others (seemingly) deny human nature in defense of their personhood.  This essay seeks a middle ground which defends a both the personhood (and therefore infinite dignity) of persons with intellectual disabilities while also emphasizing the importance of our common human nature.  I attempt to do this by retrieving a basic philosophical distinction between person and nature.  This distinction allows us to both defend the dignity of intellectually disabled persons while also providing a realistic framework for understanding the meaning of disability.  Moreover, I seek to deepen this account theologically by exploring what I call the “Sabbath structure” of the human person.  I try to show that the Sabbath is a constitutive dimension of our humanity which can help account for the transformative power people often experience when living with the intellectually disabled.

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8)
Lent One, February 29, 2004 at Evensong
“His Son, whom the Father hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also God made the worlds; He is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express Image of his Person, and upholds all things by the word of his power …” (Hebrews 1.3)

Last Sunday evening in order to evoke the religious sense that our human lives, and the life of the whole cosmos, are processions moving from Jesus as beginning to Jesus as end, I told you about what Phineas Stewart does when he finds a suitable stick at my home. If he is playing by himself, he may be discovered singing in procession down my hall or across the room carrying the rod over his head. In imagination he is at St George’s walking up the aisle to Jesus, whether he precisely knows his destination or not. Tonight Phineas must lend us his aid again to help us understand the old teaching of the Church about images of God and in what sense man can be called the divine image.This sermon is part of a series published in Pantokrator, the Cosmic Christ:  A Christian Theology of Nature (Charlottetown, Prince Edward, Island: St. Peter Publications, 2005) posted on Academia.edu
I have made use here of a rather surprising source, Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (Westminster: Dacre Press, 1945) 748-752.

Este artículo se presenta como una reseña de aquellos textos de Boff en los que el autor hace una referencia explícita a la temática de la creación desde la perspectiva de una ecoteología. La finalidad es mostrar la amplitud y la novedad de la reflexión realizada por Boff y, a la vez, ofrecer una guía para quienes quisieran hacer una lectura detenida y profunda de alguno de los textos reseñados. En ese sentido, se propone también como una modesta contribución para la formación de agentes pastorales, sobre todo, para quiénes el acceso a los libros no es cosa fácil. Finalmente, esperamos que este trabajo sirva como una introducción a la reflexión teológica sobre la creación en Leonardo Boff, y como estímulo para renovar nuestro compromiso por la transformación del mundo desde una perspectiva ecológica. Palabras clave: Ecoteología, teología latinoamericana, teología de la creación, democracia cósmica, espiritualidad ecológica.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how Abraham Kuyper and some late neo-Calvinists have addressed the doctrine of creation in light of the challenges posed by evolutionary scientific theory. I argue that most neo-Calvinists today, particularly scholars from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), continue Kuyper's legacy by holding the core principles of a creationist worldview. Yet, they have taken a new direction by explaining the natural history of the earth in evolutionary terms. In my analysis, Kuyper's heirs at the VU today offer judicious parameters to guide Christians in conversation with evolutionary science, precisely because of their high appreciation of good science and awareness of the non-negotiable elements that make up the orthodox Christian narrative.

La présente livraison exprime pour tous publics les travaux d’une session inter et pluri disciplinaire portant sur l’encyclique du pape François : «Laudato si’» de 2015. Cette session a été conjointement organisée par la faculté de théologie (FDT) et par l’Institut d’études religieuses et pasto- rales (IERP) de l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse.

L‘évolution du vivant, par l‘observation de nouveauté, fait poser la question de la
création continuée de l‘univers par Dieu. La création est en cours de réalisation par
l‘émergence de nouveauté, notamment dans le vivant. C‘est la grande remarque de John
Haught qui lui fait écrire son livre God after Darwin. D‘où provient cette nouveauté ?
Comment opère-t-elle ? Et qu‘est-ce qu‘elle dit de l‘action et de la présence de Dieu dans
la création ?
Pour Haught, penser Dieu dans le dialogue avec de la théorie de l‘évolution signifie
penser selon des catégories qu‘une métaphysique statique ne peut plus assumer. Dieu
insuffle de la nouveauté sous forme d‘information dont la nature est différente de la
matière et de l‘énergie. Or, dans une perspective eschatologique, Dieu est la fin et
l‘aboutissement de toute chose, il en est donc le futur. Haught élabore une « métaphysique
du futur » : le monde tel qu‘il est n‘est pas achevé et a besoin de cet influx régulier de
nouveauté pour se finaliser et s‘accomplir.
Malgré sa tentative audacieuse de réconcilier Darwin avec Dieu, Haught ne laisse pas
entière satisfaction et son approche est l‘occasion de vives réactions. Une réflexion sur les
notions d‘ordre et de désordre permettrait de comprendre comment régularité et chaos se
complètent dans les phénomènes naturels. Interprétée dans une perspective théologique
elle permettrait de comprendre comment Dieu attend sa création dans un cheminement
contingent et la mise en place progressive, hasardeuse, mais certaine à grande échelle, des
propensions identifiables dans le vivant.
Evolution of living beings, by observing 'novelty‘, poses the question of continuous
creation of the universe by God. Creation is on the way to realisation by the emergence of
'novelty‘, particularly in living beings. It is John Haught‘s major idea which prompted him
to write his book: God after Darwin. Where does it come from? How does it operate? And
what does it say about God‘s action and presence in creation?
For Haught, thinking of God in dialogue with the theory of evolution means
thinking according to categories which a static metaphysics cannot maintain any longer.
God impels 'novelty‘ through data which differs in nature from matter and energy. But, in
a eschatological perspective, God is the end and culmination of all things. God is the future
of all created things. Haught works out a 'metaphysic of the future‘: the world, such as it
is, is not yet finished and needs this regular impulse of 'novelty‘ to bring it to fulfilment.
In spite of daring attempt to reconcile Darwin and God, Haught‘s approach is not
entirely satisfactory and is bound to provoke important and lively reactions. Reflecting on
notions of order and chaos would permit us to understand how regularity and chaos
complement each other in natural phenomena. In a theological perspective, this would
permit us to understand how God 'waits‘ for his creation in the contingent processes of
nature and identifiable propensities in the living.

One particularly disputed topic within the field of Old Testament theology is the subject of creation, specifically the theological and ethical import of the creation materials. The present study conducts a survey of positions on the theme of creation in significant works of Old Testament Theology (excluding works that utilize a narrative or book-based approach) from the seminal volumes of Eichrodt and Von Rad to the present day. It is the intention of the present study to identify the various zones of general agreement and disagreement within the subcategories present in different discussions of creation in Old Testament Theology, in order to clearly isolate the areas that require further research.

This article addresses the Orthodox Christian representation of reality, or doctrine of creation, and the possible need to rephrase and communicate its meaning within the parameters of contemporary scientific culture. To redraft the traditional Orthodox worldview today is both necessary and largely unproblematic. Rephrasing the doctrine of creation is demanded by the pastoral and missionary exigency to reaching out to audiences conditioned by contemporary cosmology. Given the earlier successive reformulations of the Orthodox doctrine of creation throughout history and within various cultural frameworks, this task, I suggest, does not pose any insurmountable difficulty.
© 2019 Johns Hopkins University Press

In this paper I give an exposition and brief evaluation of the relationship between the protology, eschatology, and political theology of Jürgen Moltmann. I pay special attention to the narratives of modernity provided by Moltmann, and his subsequent critique of those narratives (particularly a critique of instrumental rationality) in favor of a more properly oriented theology of creation--and humanity's place within that creation--which reestablishes a properly eschatological orientation. In my final section, I briefly reflect on whether Moltmann's account leaves room for the most exclusive claims of Christianity.