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Creation and New Creation: Understanding God's Creation Project
In keeping with the scriptural witness and the theological heritage, Creation and New Creation examines the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. The connection between the two - creation and new creation - has drawn renewed attention in the last several decades; but the burden of Sean McDonough's argument is that this emphasis on creation and new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until early modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from early church father Irenaeus to modern theologian Karl Barth. While covering the traditional elements of the doctrine, McDonough treats this important subject with a special emphasis on how these unfold in the story of what Colin Gunton has called God's "creation project."
- GenresTheology
231 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2017
About the author
Sean M. McDonough
12 books1 followerSean M. McDonough is professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He holds a bachelor of arts from Harvard College, a master of divinity from Gordon-Conwell, and a PhD from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
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January 1, 2018
Summary: A work on the doctrine of creation with particular attention to the connection between the creation and the new creation in Christ, but also focusing on other aspects of creation including issues of time, space, Platonic ideas and their influence on the doctrine, in each case tracing relevant scripture, and the theological contributions of theologians from the fathers to the present day.
"Creation" over the past couple centuries has been treated more as a point of contention than as one of the significant doctrines of the church, explored for what it may reveal about God and God's relation to his world, and humanity, our relationship to the rest of creation and why it, and we, exist. Yet, in recent years, theologians have been writing more and more about the connections between creation and the new creation in Christ.
Sean McDonough contends that this is, in fact, not a new development. He writes:
"The burden of the present volume is that this emphasis on creation and the new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether it be in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from Irenaeus to Barth" (p. vii).
As promised, this volume, first a part of the Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective series, and now published on its own, elaborates the connection between creation and the new creation in its first chapter, beginning with the New Testament connections back to creation from John 1 throughout the epistles and Revelation. McDonough then introduces us to the theologians from the fathers to the present who made this connection, and explores how the end will be like, and unlike, the beginning.
Building on this base, and having established the methodology of this volume, McDonough proceeds in subsequent chapters to explore often neglected matters such as who the God is who creates, why the creation, matters of time and space, Platonic ideas and how they relate to both process and structure of creation, the place of humanity in that creation, and finally beauty and the creation. McDonough reflects both upon biblical testimony and the wrestlings of theologians to articulate these aspects of the doctrine of creation.
We join these theologians in wrestling with some of the big questions of the ages. How do we understand the work of each person of the Trinity in creation in a way consonant with our Trinitarian theology? What does it mean that God created the world in freedom and did God create for redemption or did God redeem for his creation? How do we understand the when of creation with a God who is eternal and outside time. Similarly, where are we as creatures inhabiting space in relation to an infinite God who transcends that space? And where did the stuff of creation come from?
Platonism has had a big influence on the life of the church (for which I thought McDonough made a convincing case) and this is certainly the case as we discuss how ideas in the mind of God and the structure of creation correspond. Also, rather than creation being a once and for all event, we find revealed a process of continuous creation, "de-creation" and new creation in Christ. How does this process unfold in the material fabric of the universe? What is the role of human beings in all this, beginning with Adam (and what are we to think about a historic Adam)? What is our destiny as creatures in the image of God redeemed in Christ? Just how far are we warranted to take talk of "deification"? Finally, what does God the creator have to do with beauty? What does beauty have to do with the presence of ugliness in the world, and what can we learn from Christ's redemptive work?
Part of the delight of this work is seeing contemporary theologians like C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth, and Colin Gunton in conversation with Athanasius and Irenaeus, Origin and Augustine, and down through the ages with Aquinas, Calvin and Jonathan Edwards. We often wrestle with holding truths of Christ's true humanity and full divinity in tension, or God's sovereignty and free will. What this volume helped me see is how such things are rooted in creation, where the eternal God creates in time, where the God who is spirit speaks matter into existence, where God creates humans in God's image, imparting a freedom that goes with that image while remaining sovereign creator. I realized afresh that as one human with a very puny brain, I am in the presence of things too wonderful for me, and yet to wrestle with such things, to listen to the conversation of others, is to think great thoughts of God, to stand in wonder afresh of God's creative work, and to marvel that such a God would set his love and include in his purposes the likes of me! That is the value of reading good works of theology. That is what I found here.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
"Creation" over the past couple centuries has been treated more as a point of contention than as one of the significant doctrines of the church, explored for what it may reveal about God and God's relation to his world, and humanity, our relationship to the rest of creation and why it, and we, exist. Yet, in recent years, theologians have been writing more and more about the connections between creation and the new creation in Christ.
Sean McDonough contends that this is, in fact, not a new development. He writes:
"The burden of the present volume is that this emphasis on creation and the new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether it be in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from Irenaeus to Barth" (p. vii).
As promised, this volume, first a part of the Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective series, and now published on its own, elaborates the connection between creation and the new creation in its first chapter, beginning with the New Testament connections back to creation from John 1 throughout the epistles and Revelation. McDonough then introduces us to the theologians from the fathers to the present who made this connection, and explores how the end will be like, and unlike, the beginning.
Building on this base, and having established the methodology of this volume, McDonough proceeds in subsequent chapters to explore often neglected matters such as who the God is who creates, why the creation, matters of time and space, Platonic ideas and how they relate to both process and structure of creation, the place of humanity in that creation, and finally beauty and the creation. McDonough reflects both upon biblical testimony and the wrestlings of theologians to articulate these aspects of the doctrine of creation.
We join these theologians in wrestling with some of the big questions of the ages. How do we understand the work of each person of the Trinity in creation in a way consonant with our Trinitarian theology? What does it mean that God created the world in freedom and did God create for redemption or did God redeem for his creation? How do we understand the when of creation with a God who is eternal and outside time. Similarly, where are we as creatures inhabiting space in relation to an infinite God who transcends that space? And where did the stuff of creation come from?
Platonism has had a big influence on the life of the church (for which I thought McDonough made a convincing case) and this is certainly the case as we discuss how ideas in the mind of God and the structure of creation correspond. Also, rather than creation being a once and for all event, we find revealed a process of continuous creation, "de-creation" and new creation in Christ. How does this process unfold in the material fabric of the universe? What is the role of human beings in all this, beginning with Adam (and what are we to think about a historic Adam)? What is our destiny as creatures in the image of God redeemed in Christ? Just how far are we warranted to take talk of "deification"? Finally, what does God the creator have to do with beauty? What does beauty have to do with the presence of ugliness in the world, and what can we learn from Christ's redemptive work?
Part of the delight of this work is seeing contemporary theologians like C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth, and Colin Gunton in conversation with Athanasius and Irenaeus, Origin and Augustine, and down through the ages with Aquinas, Calvin and Jonathan Edwards. We often wrestle with holding truths of Christ's true humanity and full divinity in tension, or God's sovereignty and free will. What this volume helped me see is how such things are rooted in creation, where the eternal God creates in time, where the God who is spirit speaks matter into existence, where God creates humans in God's image, imparting a freedom that goes with that image while remaining sovereign creator. I realized afresh that as one human with a very puny brain, I am in the presence of things too wonderful for me, and yet to wrestle with such things, to listen to the conversation of others, is to think great thoughts of God, to stand in wonder afresh of God's creative work, and to marvel that such a God would set his love and include in his purposes the likes of me! That is the value of reading good works of theology. That is what I found here.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
December 10, 2017
I would like to introduce you to Creation and New Creation: Understanding God’s Creation Project, by Sean M. McDonough. Since 2000, McDonough has been a professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary located in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He holds a B.A. from Harvard College, a M.Div. and M.Th. from Gordon-Conwell, and a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Prior to his tenure at Gordon-Conwell, McDonough was the Chair of Biblical Studies and lecturer in New Testament at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji.
Dr. McDonough is also a Sunday School teacher and occasional preacher at First Congregational Church in Hamilton. He is also a speaker for Medair, a Christian relief organization based in Switzerland. His research interests include creation/cosmology in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy and religion and the Book of Revelation.
In keeping with the scriptural witness and the theological heritage, this remarkable book examines the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. The connection between the two creation and new creation has drawn renewed attention in the last several decades; but the burden of Sean McDonough’s argument is that this emphasis on creation and new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until early modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from early church father Irenaeus to modern theologian Karl Barth. While covering the traditional elements of the doctrine, McDonough treats this important subject with a special emphasis on how these unfold in the story of what Colin Gunton has called ‘God’s creation project.’ -book description at Amazon.com
You may have trouble seeing the connection between a book on creation and new creation with a blog that focuses on faith and work. Don’t fear; I refer to you fellow Green Room author and theologian, Will Messenger. Will wrote here about the four-chapter Gospel:
It usually makes sense to students that God created the world good and gave humanity a significant role in bringing its inherent goodness to completion. They can understand that the Fall severely marred God’s good creation, to the point that work is often difficult, unproductive, painful, and unfair, yet the original goodness is not extinguished. Likewise, they can take on board the idea that God’s response to the Fall is not to abandon the marred Creation, but to redeem it. This helps them see that the New Creation is not the annihilation of the original (and only) Creation, but the restoration and completion of it. The New Jerusalem is a physical city in this world (think of the 12 stones), not a metaphor in some spiritual cyberspace.
To quote my friend (and another Green Room author) Amy Sherman, our work in this world is designed to bring foretastes of the future Kingdom. McDonough begins:
In keeping with the scriptural witness and the theological heritage, we will examine the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. Thus, rather than restricting ourselves to what God did at creation in the beginning, we are concerned with the full sweep of God’s purposes for the cosmos….This will certainly begin with the work of primal creation, but it will also include his work of new creation: the providential and redemptive acts of renewal in history, and the consummation of all things in the new heavens and new earth.
McDonough’s purpose in this book is to review the doctrines of creation and new creation with an emphasis upon how these unfold throughout Scripture, as well as drawing on various theologians throughout church history. Following creation and new creation, the author takes a topical approach to the subjects of God as Creator, time and space, the process of creation, and finally beauty and creation. He does not focus much on humanity’s role in creation, as this is well covered by other books in the ‘Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective’ series.
McDonough’s book reminded me of an excerpt from N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope I read in another book I reviewed recently.
This brings us to 1 Corinthians 15:58: what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to fall over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are — strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself — accomplishing something which will become, in due course, part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings, and for that matter one’s fellow non-human creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world — all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation which God will one day make. – N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
McDonough concludes his book in a curious way. He quotes John 21:25, “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” McDonough notes that some have interpreted this verse to be a “sigh of resignation” at the end of the book demonstrating that John’s task is not really completed. In reality, John is summarizing what has taken place prior to his gospel:
The Word made all things in the beginning. God faced nothing but his own Image as he set about the task of creation: ‘all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1:3). Whatever things exist in the world exist because the Father has called them into being through the Son and Spirit.
Creation and New Creation has received some impressive endorsements:
“Sean McDonough blends profound biblical exposition with rich theological and philosophical reflection. This wide-ranging study not only addresses both classical concerns and contemporary questions, but stimulates worship and faithful participation in God s creation project.”
Michael O Neil, director of postgraduate research, Vose Seminary, Western Australia
“Few scholars bring more to the topic than New Testament theologian Sean McDonough. His book explores the Christian doctrine of creation by drawing upon a broad array of theologians, Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic from Irenaeus to Barth. The result is a book of astonishing breadth and impressive learning.”
Richard Clifford, professor emeritus of Old Testament, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
I recommend Creation and New Creation for your thoughtful reading. In it you will learn more about the doctrines of creation and new creation and their enormous influence upon our daily integration of faith and work as we look forward to the Lord’s return and His restoration of all things.
You might also enjoy the Jesus and Your Job series of talks at the Theology of Work Project where McDonough speaks very practically about the integration of faith and work in specific occupations and conducts interview with workplace Christians.
Dr. McDonough is also a Sunday School teacher and occasional preacher at First Congregational Church in Hamilton. He is also a speaker for Medair, a Christian relief organization based in Switzerland. His research interests include creation/cosmology in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy and religion and the Book of Revelation.
In keeping with the scriptural witness and the theological heritage, this remarkable book examines the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. The connection between the two creation and new creation has drawn renewed attention in the last several decades; but the burden of Sean McDonough’s argument is that this emphasis on creation and new creation has been a feature of the doctrine since the beginning, whether in the eschatological reading of Genesis 1 that predominated at least until early modern times, or the intertwining of the narratives of creation and redemption in thinkers from early church father Irenaeus to modern theologian Karl Barth. While covering the traditional elements of the doctrine, McDonough treats this important subject with a special emphasis on how these unfold in the story of what Colin Gunton has called ‘God’s creation project.’ -book description at Amazon.com
You may have trouble seeing the connection between a book on creation and new creation with a blog that focuses on faith and work. Don’t fear; I refer to you fellow Green Room author and theologian, Will Messenger. Will wrote here about the four-chapter Gospel:
It usually makes sense to students that God created the world good and gave humanity a significant role in bringing its inherent goodness to completion. They can understand that the Fall severely marred God’s good creation, to the point that work is often difficult, unproductive, painful, and unfair, yet the original goodness is not extinguished. Likewise, they can take on board the idea that God’s response to the Fall is not to abandon the marred Creation, but to redeem it. This helps them see that the New Creation is not the annihilation of the original (and only) Creation, but the restoration and completion of it. The New Jerusalem is a physical city in this world (think of the 12 stones), not a metaphor in some spiritual cyberspace.
To quote my friend (and another Green Room author) Amy Sherman, our work in this world is designed to bring foretastes of the future Kingdom. McDonough begins:
In keeping with the scriptural witness and the theological heritage, we will examine the doctrine of creation alongside new creation. Thus, rather than restricting ourselves to what God did at creation in the beginning, we are concerned with the full sweep of God’s purposes for the cosmos….This will certainly begin with the work of primal creation, but it will also include his work of new creation: the providential and redemptive acts of renewal in history, and the consummation of all things in the new heavens and new earth.
McDonough’s purpose in this book is to review the doctrines of creation and new creation with an emphasis upon how these unfold throughout Scripture, as well as drawing on various theologians throughout church history. Following creation and new creation, the author takes a topical approach to the subjects of God as Creator, time and space, the process of creation, and finally beauty and creation. He does not focus much on humanity’s role in creation, as this is well covered by other books in the ‘Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective’ series.
McDonough’s book reminded me of an excerpt from N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope I read in another book I reviewed recently.
This brings us to 1 Corinthians 15:58: what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to fall over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are — strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself — accomplishing something which will become, in due course, part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings, and for that matter one’s fellow non-human creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world — all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation which God will one day make. – N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
McDonough concludes his book in a curious way. He quotes John 21:25, “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” McDonough notes that some have interpreted this verse to be a “sigh of resignation” at the end of the book demonstrating that John’s task is not really completed. In reality, John is summarizing what has taken place prior to his gospel:
The Word made all things in the beginning. God faced nothing but his own Image as he set about the task of creation: ‘all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1:3). Whatever things exist in the world exist because the Father has called them into being through the Son and Spirit.
Creation and New Creation has received some impressive endorsements:
“Sean McDonough blends profound biblical exposition with rich theological and philosophical reflection. This wide-ranging study not only addresses both classical concerns and contemporary questions, but stimulates worship and faithful participation in God s creation project.”
Michael O Neil, director of postgraduate research, Vose Seminary, Western Australia
“Few scholars bring more to the topic than New Testament theologian Sean McDonough. His book explores the Christian doctrine of creation by drawing upon a broad array of theologians, Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic from Irenaeus to Barth. The result is a book of astonishing breadth and impressive learning.”
Richard Clifford, professor emeritus of Old Testament, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
I recommend Creation and New Creation for your thoughtful reading. In it you will learn more about the doctrines of creation and new creation and their enormous influence upon our daily integration of faith and work as we look forward to the Lord’s return and His restoration of all things.
You might also enjoy the Jesus and Your Job series of talks at the Theology of Work Project where McDonough speaks very practically about the integration of faith and work in specific occupations and conducts interview with workplace Christians.
April 22, 2023
First let me begin by saying that I enjoyed this book immensely. I found it thought-provoking and well written. I was drawn into the topic of the relationship between creation and new creation so thoroughly that I took over 70 pages of notes. These notes were mostly a dialog with the author's viewpoint or insight as it related to various topics - of which there were many. The process of note-taking enabled me to solidify my own understanding and perspective on these topics, but especially on their relationship to each other.
To clarify for the sake of a fair review, the author's purpose and scope of the book is described as "an exploration of the Christian doctrine of creation from Irenaeus to Barth" was not the same as my expectation for reading it. I was looking for more of a metanarrative of creation to new creation. However, the depth and scope of topics Sean addressed enabled me to enjoy his compilation of ideas from many thinkers over time. It's as though he walks the reader through a historical perspective of these important theological topics as seen through the eyes early church fathers as well as modern theologians. It was very insightful and revealing. My 5-star rating indicates my view that he was successful in achieving what he set out to accomplish.
I also appreciated his willingness and courage to ask some very challenging questions. As he shows, none of these questions are really new, as they've been pondered over centuries by numerous theologians. More importantly he shows that the answers to these questions are not always clear-cut. He's also willing to address various paradox's that are apparent in the work God is doing in Christ. I'll illustrate one as an example.
Sean explains how Christ is working because creation is ongoing (John 5:17), and references Christ's healing of the man born blind as an example (John 9). The disciples of Christ assume "the fall" has the last word, and either the man or his parents sinned in order to lead him into this miserable state. Yet Christ provides another alternative; for God's grace and power to be seen. Where they saw divine retribution, Jesus saw God's creative design. Seans goes on to reference Irenaeus' insights as well. "For that which the artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifest in Him . . ." Like Irenaeus, Sean recognizes that God's purposes in creation can only be read clearly in the light of their future fulfillment.
This is one example of several, where I felt Sean didn't take the impact or its conclusion further. The healing of the man born blind has great depth to reveal about Christ's work and the state of the Jewish rulers of his day. Though McDonough is courageous in proposing such a thought, and Irenaeus is bold in his assertations, I would be bolder still. Christ is revealing nothing less than the same conditions existing in the story of Job:
- the man has suffered unjustly and undeservedly from birth till now.
- those around him, his own brethren, attribute his suffering to some great sin on his part or that of his parents.
- Christ comes along and removes the self-righteousness of the friends and the unjust suffering of the man by taking ownership for the chaos of his blindness. He then proceeds to restore his sight.
To me this signifies the truth of our Lord's claim about himself through the prophet Isaiah: I form light and create darkness; I make good (well-being) and create evil (calamity), I am the Lord who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 - ESV) God in Christ is not afraid to take ownership of the chaos to which he willingly subjected his creation, humanity included (Romans 8:19-24a). More than that, Christ shows his willingness to answer that chaos, the unjust suffering, with grace and mercy; turning the chaos into life, and for some turning that chaos into eternal life.
These are the types of issues Sean is dealing with effectively throughout his book. I say it's a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to dig deeper into what they believe and why they believe it. Enjoy!
To clarify for the sake of a fair review, the author's purpose and scope of the book is described as "an exploration of the Christian doctrine of creation from Irenaeus to Barth" was not the same as my expectation for reading it. I was looking for more of a metanarrative of creation to new creation. However, the depth and scope of topics Sean addressed enabled me to enjoy his compilation of ideas from many thinkers over time. It's as though he walks the reader through a historical perspective of these important theological topics as seen through the eyes early church fathers as well as modern theologians. It was very insightful and revealing. My 5-star rating indicates my view that he was successful in achieving what he set out to accomplish.
I also appreciated his willingness and courage to ask some very challenging questions. As he shows, none of these questions are really new, as they've been pondered over centuries by numerous theologians. More importantly he shows that the answers to these questions are not always clear-cut. He's also willing to address various paradox's that are apparent in the work God is doing in Christ. I'll illustrate one as an example.
Sean explains how Christ is working because creation is ongoing (John 5:17), and references Christ's healing of the man born blind as an example (John 9). The disciples of Christ assume "the fall" has the last word, and either the man or his parents sinned in order to lead him into this miserable state. Yet Christ provides another alternative; for God's grace and power to be seen. Where they saw divine retribution, Jesus saw God's creative design. Seans goes on to reference Irenaeus' insights as well. "For that which the artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifest in Him . . ." Like Irenaeus, Sean recognizes that God's purposes in creation can only be read clearly in the light of their future fulfillment.
This is one example of several, where I felt Sean didn't take the impact or its conclusion further. The healing of the man born blind has great depth to reveal about Christ's work and the state of the Jewish rulers of his day. Though McDonough is courageous in proposing such a thought, and Irenaeus is bold in his assertations, I would be bolder still. Christ is revealing nothing less than the same conditions existing in the story of Job:
- the man has suffered unjustly and undeservedly from birth till now.
- those around him, his own brethren, attribute his suffering to some great sin on his part or that of his parents.
- Christ comes along and removes the self-righteousness of the friends and the unjust suffering of the man by taking ownership for the chaos of his blindness. He then proceeds to restore his sight.
To me this signifies the truth of our Lord's claim about himself through the prophet Isaiah: I form light and create darkness; I make good (well-being) and create evil (calamity), I am the Lord who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 - ESV) God in Christ is not afraid to take ownership of the chaos to which he willingly subjected his creation, humanity included (Romans 8:19-24a). More than that, Christ shows his willingness to answer that chaos, the unjust suffering, with grace and mercy; turning the chaos into life, and for some turning that chaos into eternal life.
These are the types of issues Sean is dealing with effectively throughout his book. I say it's a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to dig deeper into what they believe and why they believe it. Enjoy!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews