The Doctrine of Creation -- Its Functions

If science and religion are two different but compatible ways of talking about reality, what is the function of the language of creation. My own struggle is to discern a way through the issues of immanence and transcendence. I'm unable to affirm the monism of pantheism, in which case God is completely bound up with the universe -- they're one and the same. That isn't the traditional Christian view, which holds a very distinctive role for God as creator. Panentheism offers a middle path, wherein God is present in but at the same distinct from Creation. I'm more attracted to it of late, but I've not jumped in with both feet.

Today as I post in preparation for Evolution Sunday, I place this quote from Paul Tillich into play. It emphasizes the transcendent voice within the Christian message of Creation. It also sounds compelling:

The doctrine of creation is the one on which the doctrines of Christ, of salvation and fulfillment depend. Without it, Christianity would have ceased to exist as an independent movement. The doctrine of creation has two main functions. First, it emphasizes the dependence on God of
everything created and, consequently, the essential goodness of creation. It protects the Christian interpretation of existence against a dualistic split between a good and an evil god. It preserves the unity of the one God. Second, it emphasizes the infinite distance between the Creator and the creature. It places the created outside the creative ground. It denies any participation of the creature in the creative substance out of which it comes. It is the doctrine of creation through the word which makes especially sharp the distance between Creator and creation. It was correct and proper when later Jewish and Christian theologians spoke of creation out of nothing. This is an implication of creation through the word. It means that there is no substance, divine or antidivine, out of which finite beings receive their being. They receive it through the word, the will of God and its creative expression. The doctrine of creation through the word denies any substantial participation of man in God. It replaces substantial identity by personal distance.
[Paul Tillich, Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality, University of Chicago Press, 1955, pp. 35-36. ]


This distance between God the Creator and the human creation is in Christian theology bridged by the incarnation in Jesus. However, you wish to understand this doctrine it does play a significant role and it suggests God's desire to bridge the gap. And in our conversation about science and faith, it does raise questions that seek answers about God's creative role in the story of evolution.

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