God's Good World

R. Wilson Jonathan

Description

The doctrine of creation has often been neglected in Christian theology. Distinguished evangelical theologian Jonathan Wilson exposes what has been missing in current theological discourse and offers an original, constructive work on this doctrine.The book unites creation and redemption, showing the significance of God's work of creation for understanding the good news of redemption in Jesus Christ. Wilson develops a trinitarian account of the life of the world and sets forth how to live wisely, hopefully, peaceably, joyfully, and generously in that world. He also shows how a mature doctrine of creation can help the church think practically about contemporary issues, including creation care, sexuality, technology, food and water, and more.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441240934
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 2013 by Jonathan R. Wilson
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4093-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled TNIV are from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version®. TNIV®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Artwork reproduced with permission from the artist, Joy Banks.
“ God’s Good World is a very important book. By pointing out how a robust doctrine of creation has been missing from the church, from education, and from society at large Jonathan Wilson shows why evangelical engagement with our world is so feeble. He then lays the foundation for a much richer life through showing the necessary connections between redemption and creation. Most important, he shows how we can build on that trinitarian foundation in our attitudes towards the body, ‘consuming,’ the internet, business, and much more all in the light of transformed worship. All Christians should read this book.”
Loren Wilkinson , Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia
“In the current discussions concerning the biblical doctrine of creation, we often bypass what is most important to us as Christians as we debate issues like the age of the earth or the length of the creation days. Jonathan Wilson corrects this oversight as he masterfully guides us to a rich appreciation of God as our Creator and Redeemer. Here we have a theologian who is committed to Scripture, who is highly skilled as a biblical interpreter, and who knows that theology must be connected to our lives. He enriches our knowledge of God as well as ourselves and moves us to fresh wonder and worship.”
Tremper Longman III , Westmont College
“In the many years that I have taught a theology of creation course to undergraduate students, I have searched in vain for a substantial and accessible text that would address the whole range of ingredient topics: God the Creator; the world as creation; the human creature; creation-care; the New Creation; biblical interpretation; theology and science; and so on. My search is over. This beautifully organized and winsomely written book by Jonathan Wilson far exceeds my hopes. From the opening chapters on how the doctrine of creation has gone ‘missing’ in church, through the bracing central chapters on doctrine and Scripture, all the way to the moving meditation on bodies near the end, this volume captivates, instructs, challenges, and delights. It will become the standard text on creation for years to come.”
Douglas Harink , King’s University College, Edmonton; author, 1 & 2 Peter in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible
“Wilson is right; the modern church has been ‘missing basic research on the doctrine of creation.’ As a result, we modern Christians have very often fallen prey to or even been cheerleaders for many of the most self-destructive habits of our age. This book should be mandatory reading for pastors, theological students, and believers who care about the burning moral issues of our day and want to rethink them theologically.”
Brian Brock , King’s College, University of Aberdeen
“In God’s Good World: Reclaiming the Doctrine of Creation , Jonathan Wilson weaves together the stories of creation and redemption. By letting trinitarian creation and redemption in Jesus Christ cast mutual light on each other, Wilson piercingly diagnoses the brokenness of contemporary church, academy, and society. He then offers a beautiful corrective in which Jesus Christ is the telos , the ultimate purpose, for person and community. Consistently addressing creation through Christ’s redemption, God’s Good World is a mature, robust work with the added gift of some profound moments of autobiography.”
Philip Rolnick , University of S t. Thomas
“Jonathan Wilson’s scholarly and comprehensive work insists that the goal of creation can only be understood in Christ and that redemption reaches all things. His careful research has established significant and original connections to a wide variety of related topics but also provides a vital commentary on numerous other authors as well as on scripture itself. God’s Good World is a major contribution to the growing literature on a doctrine that has been sadly neglected until recently, but it is charged with hope. Anyone who wants to discover the rich resource that Christian theology provides both the church and our world as we face acute environmental challenges will be grateful for this timely book.”
Peter Harris , founder, A Rocha
Contents
Cover i
Title Page ii
Copyright Page iii
Endorsements iv
Introduction vii
Part 1 1
1. Missing Creation in the Church 3
2. Missing Creation in the Academy 15
3. Missing Creation in Society 31
Part 2 47
4. The Dialectic of the Kingdom 49
5. One Creator: Father, Son, and Spirit 71
6. Remapping the Doctrine of Creation 97
7. Rereading Scripture 127
Part 3 173
8. Construing the World 175
9. Whatever Happened to Worldliness? 199
10. Consuming Desire 207
11. Stories, Practices, Prayers 217
12. Blessed Are the Meek 225
13. Being and Becoming Persons 235
14. Bodies 241
15. Worship 251
Bibliography 261
Notes on the Artwork 277
Endnotes 279
Subject Index 281
Scripture Index 283
Back Cover 285
Introduction
C limate change. Economics. Sexuality. Justice. Gene therapy. Bioethics. Famine. Energy use. Diminishing oil supplies. Alternative energy. Violence. Evolution. Torture. Incarceration. Ecology. And so much more.
All of these are urgent concerns for those of us alive in the early decades of the twenty-first century, not only for ourselves but also for those who will come after us. Books on these topics pour out from publishers, articles on these issues appear on the front pages of newspapers, and conversations fill the blogosphere. For Christians, all these concerns relate to our beliefs about “creation.” But when we look for guidance from our doctrine of creation, we find relatively few resources. Yes, we have a lot of books on these urgent issues. But we are missing “basic research” on the doctrine of creation. Our situation is like that of a medical team trying to treat a patient who is experiencing multiple organ failure without knowing what is causing the failures. Or perhaps the team knows that something called a “virus” is attacking the patient, but the team does not know which virus is attacking, much less how it works.
In our circumstances, we are not helped by the familiar debates over “creation.” It does not help us make our way through this world and the urgent issues of our times to know how long ago “this world” was made. Or how long God took to make it. Or precisely what means God used to bring the world into being. These questions may be fascinating puzzles for some people, but answers to them do not constitute a doctrine of creation that articulates our convictions about God’s world, who this God is, how we find life, and the purpose of creation that teaches us the way of life.
We are poor in resources for a doctrine of creation that could guide our life today because Christian theology began to abandon the doctrine of creation about 250 years ago. We have not totally neglected the doctrine there have been some bright spots in the last three centuries. Nevertheless, compared to other doctrines, the doctrine of creation has been neglected; the result is an atrophied doctrine. This is what happened: as the sciences developed in the age of modernity, theologians began to think that they could not compete with the explanatory power and “control of nature” exhibited and promised by the sciences. Instead of rethinking the doctrine of creation, most theologians recast Christian convictions in terms of the inner life of humans or of salvation history (Ger., Heilsgeschichte ). These defensive moves insulated Christian faith and belief from the realm of the sciences by locating Christian teaching within the heart or in a special strand of history that was not subject to “critical history.”
The actual history of the development (or lack of development) of a doctrine of creation is more complex than I have presented it here. But the central point is that with the rise of the sciences, theology largely abandoned the doctrine of creation and left the field to the sciences. We need a thorough historical account of this abandonment of the doctrine and its consequences. [1] However, I do not have the temperament or training to provide such an account. Instead I will presume the rightness of my general claim about the neglect of the doctrine of creation, consider the consequences of that neglect, and offer an account that seeks to correct this neglect and contribute to its recovery.
A mature, robust understanding of creation is essential to growth in Christian discipleship and witness to the gospel. We have seldom had an acc