Creation and Christ

Creation and Christ
Author: Angela Costley
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2020-11-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3161565029

The Epistle to the Hebrews is usually associated with its theology of Christ the High Priest. However, the term "high priest" is not so common in the first four chapters of Hebrews, occurring only four times with a further reference to sacrifice in 1:3. Rather than emphasising the priestly or sacrificial activity of Christ, these opening sections contain a number of references to creation: 1:2-3,10-12, 2:5-9, 10; 3:1-6; 4:3-4 and 4:9-10. In this volume, Angela Costley uses discourse analysis to explore the importance of the topic of creation to the discourse of the Epistle to the Hebrews, uncovering a close link between creation and salvation. She highlights the interaction of the topic of creation with the topic of salvation in the discourse to uncover a depiction of Christ as the creator who descends to take on human flesh, God who becomes human, in order to lead humanity heavenward.

Christ the Heart of Creation

Christ the Heart of Creation
Author: Rowan Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2018-09-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1472945557

In this wide-ranging book, Rowan Williams argues that what we say about Jesus Christ is key to understanding what Christian belief says about creator and creation overall. Through detailed discussion of texts from the earliest centuries to the present day, we are shown some of the various and subtle ways in which Christians have discovered in their reflections on Christ the possibility of a deeply affirmative approach to creation, and a set of radical insights in ethics and politics as well. Throughout his life, Rowan Williams has been deeply influenced by thinkers of the Eastern Christian tradition as well as Catholic and Anglican writers. This book draws on insights from Eastern Christianity, from the Western Middle Ages and from Reformed thinkers, from Calvin to Bonhoeffer – as well as considering theological insights sparked by philosophers like Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. Christ the Heart of Creation concerns fundamental issues for Christian belief and Williams tackles them head-on: he writes with pellucid clarity and shows his gift for putting across what are inevitably complex ideas to a wide audience.

The Whole Mystery of Christ

The Whole Mystery of Christ
Author: Jordan Daniel Wood
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2022-10-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0268203466

A thoroughgoing examination of Maximus Confessor’s singular theological vision through the prism of Christ’s cosmic and historical Incarnation. Jordan Daniel Wood changes the trajectory of patristic scholarship with this comprehensive historical and systematic study of one of the most creative and profound thinkers of the patristic era: Maximus Confessor (560–662 CE). Wood's panoramic vantage on Maximus’s thought emulates the theological depth of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Cosmic Liturgy while also serving as a corrective to that classic text. Maximus's theological vision may be summed up in his enigmatic assertion that “the Word of God, very God, wills always and in all things to actualize the mystery of his Incarnation.” The Whole Mystery of Christ sets out to explicate this claim. Attentive to the various contexts in which Maximus thought and wrote—including the wisdom of earlier church fathers, conciliar developments in Christological and Trinitarian doctrine, monastic and ascetic ways of life, and prominent contemporary philosophical traditions—the book explores the relations between God’s act of creation and the Word’s historical Incarnation, between the analogy of being and Christology, and between history and the Fall, in addition to treating such topics as grace, deification, theological predication, and the ontology of nature versus personhood. Perhaps uniquely among Christian thinkers, Wood argues, Maximus envisions creatio ex nihilo as creatio ex Deo in the event of the Word’s kenosis: the mystery of Christ is the revealed identity of the Word’s historical and cosmic Incarnation. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of patristics, historical theology, systematic theology, and Byzantine studies.

Christ and the Created Order

Christ and the Created Order
Author: Zondervan,
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 031053609X

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 Creation

Christ and Creation
Author: Colin E. Gunton
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2005-06-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1597522473

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.

Christ and the New Creation

Christ and the New Creation
Author: Matthew Y. Emerson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2013-04-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630871559

In Christ and the New Creation, Matthew Emerson takes a fresh approach to understanding New Testament theology by using a canonical methodology. Although typically confined to Old Testament theology, Emerson sees fruitfulness in applying this method to New Testament theology as well. Instead of a thematic or book-by-book analysis, Emerson attempts to trace the primary theological message of the New Testament through paying attention to its narrative and canonical shape. He concludes that the order of the books of the New Testament emphasize the story of Christ's inauguration, commissioning, and consummation of the new creation.

Creation Care

Creation Care
Author: Douglas J. Moo
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2018-02-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310416558

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a God whose creative power and loving care embrace all that exists, from earth and sky and sea to every creeping, crawling, swimming, and flying creature. Yet the significance of the Bible’s extensive teaching about the natural world is easily overlooked by Christians accustomed to focusing only on what the Bible says about God’s interaction with human beings. In Creation Care, part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, father and son team Douglas and Jonathan Moo invite readers to open their Bibles afresh to explore the place of the natural world within God’s purposes and to celebrate God’s love as displayed in creation and new creation. Following the contours of the biblical storyline, they uncover answers to questions such as: What is the purpose of the non-human creation? Can a world with things like predators, parasites, and natural disasters still be the ‘good’ world described in Genesis 1? What difference does the narrative of the ‘Fall’ make for humankind’s responsibility to rule over other creatures? Does Israel’s experience on the land have anything to teach Christians about their relationship with the earth? What difference does Jesus make for our understanding of the natural world? How does our call to care for creation fit within the hope for a new heaven and a new earth? What is unique about Christian creation care compared with other approaches to ‘environmental’ issues? How does creation care fit within the charge to proclaim the gospel and care for the poor? In addition to providing a comprehensive biblical theology of creation care, they probe behind the headlines and politicized rhetoric about an ‘environmental crisis’ and climate change to provide a careful and judicious analysis of the most up-to-date scientific data about the state of our world. They conclude by setting forth a bold framework and practical suggestions for an effective and faithful Christian response to the scriptural teaching about the created world. But rather than merely offering a response to environmental concerns, Creation Care invites readers into a joyful vision of the world as God’s creation in which they can rediscover who they truly are as creatures called to love and serve the Creator and to delight in all he has made.

True North

True North
Author: Mark Liederbach
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433676885

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.

Firm Foundations

Firm Foundations
Author: Trevor McIlwain
Publisher:
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2009
Genre: Bible
ISBN: 9781890040840

A steadfast faith is built on the firm foundation of God's Word. For decades, this pattern of teaching has helped men and women around the world gain a clear understanding of God, man's relationship with Him, and the grace He has made freely available through the death of His Son. Many teachers have successfully used these lessons from the previous version in churches, classroom and small groups. Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ presents in order key teachings about: God's nature and character; Man's sinful state and separation from God; God's grace, presence and activity through history; Christ as the promised Redeemer. Moving from Genesis through the life of Christ, your students will see God's plan of redemption unfold. They'll follow God's pattern of progressively revealing His character. This study series uses the New King James Bible translation. - Publisher.

Christ Before Creation

Christ Before Creation
Author: Gene Edwards
Publisher:
Total Pages: 73
Release: 2003-12-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780940232044

"Come, take my hand. Together let us go into God...into the very center of God Himself." Gene Edwards thus takes you on a journey into God, there to explore the invisibles. You will discover that the center of God is Christ...at a time before Christ created. Be there with Him before He created. You will discover there is much which Christ did before He created. Watch as He passes farther into the eternals. Here is Christ before angels, Christ even before nothingness, and Christ the One who is all. What is it like to become familiar with seeing the unseen, to live in, to think in and to comprehend another realm, with no up, no down, no space, no time...a place before time, mass or dimension? Meet a transcended Lord outside the space-time continuum, a Lord free of the fetters of creation. Journey with your Lord who lives in the eternal now. No subject has been more neglected (and needed) than that of understanding - and touching - the invisibles.