In an October 2017 lecture at the Center for Christian Study at the University of Virginia, canon-theologian Simon Oliver explains how and why the doctrine of Creation is cardinal and must frame all theology. According to Oliver, the questions asked about Creation since about the 17th century — such as when, how, and why God created the cosmos — were not fundamental questions for patristic theologians like Augustine. For centuries, the foundational questions related to the doctrine of Creation were: how do we distinguish God from His creatures, and how do we speak of the creatures’ relation to God their Creator? In this lecture, titled “Creation and the Purpose of Creatures,” Oliver answers these questions using the concepts of creation ex nihilo and participation in the Divine life. Simon Oliver is the Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University and canon-theologian at Durham Cathedral, in northeast England.
Theologian and priest Andrew Davison believes that retrieving the historic doctrine of participation is vital to help Christians escape from the default philosophy of the age. In his book Participation in God: A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics, Davison undertakes a systematic treatment of the doctrine, approaching it from two angles: Creation (all things — whether the justice of man or the greenness of trees — find their being in God) and Redemption (God has saved us in order that we may become partakers in His very nature). The doctrine of participation means reckoning with the nature of being as ongoing gift of God and with the awareness that God’s transcendence does not mean God is distant from the world — “in Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”
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