Christ and Creation

by Colin E. Gunton

Weaving pneumatological, teleological, eschatological, anthropological, and ecological strands into christology, Gunton draws from and interacts with a wide range of theologians, from ancient to modern, to weave together a strong incarnation-creation link and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

Genres: Theology, Christian

127 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1969

About the author

Colin Ewart Gunton (1941-2003) was a British systematic theologian. As a theologian he made contributions to the doctrine of Creation and the doctrine of the trinity. He was Professor of Christian Doctrine at King's College London from 1984 and co-founder with Christoph Schwoebel of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology in 1988. Gunton was actively involved in the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom where he had been a minister since 1972. He was arguably the most important British theologian of his generation.

Gunton's most influential work was on the doctrines of Creation and the Trinity. One of his most important books is The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity" (1993), and is "a profound analysis of the paradoxes and contradictions of Modernity." The One, the Three and the Many remains a "majestical survey of the western intellectual tradition and a penetrating analysis of the modern condition."

Reviews

[Colby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this has some real pseudo-Nestorian issues.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an incredibly dense read and I do not recommend it for casual reading. Gunton is laying out a complex theological argument for a Christology that is inherently creation centered, almost to the point of being panentheistic. He does this with a lot of dense exegetical work, teleological arguments about incarnation and soteriology, and closely packed references to a wide variety of modern and ancient theologians.
If you can find someone who builds off his work in a more easily consumed manner, I encourage it, if you are willing to give this the attention it needs, it's a worthwhile read,

[Sara Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic lectures and truly interesting ideas. (I responded audibly to conclusions at the end!) My chief complaint is simply that these are transcribed lectures and so they include some language and syntax best suited for a live audience.

[Joseph Sverker]

2015- There are obvious signs that this is a lecture in that Gunton does not develop his arguments in detail and there are at times a lack of references. having said that Gunton does a good job of arguing for the necessity to include Christ in any doctrine of creation. Gunton also tries to strike a balance between relationally and bodiliness in a way in this book. He is starting to develop thoughts on an relational ontology while at the same time pointing out that our genes and bodies most likely are important for who we are. Christ is also central in terms of anthropology in that it is Christ that unities all humanity for Gunton and relates all humans to the Father. One thing that is very appealing is how this is done through kenosis. Gunton (like Grenz I think) takes kenosis not to be an "emptying" of God in that Jesus became somehow "less divine" (whatever that might mean) in the incarnation, but that the emptying is the very sign of Jesus' divinity because kenosis is the way how God shows is glory, glory in weakness.

I do wonder about the relational ontology at times though. I find it very appealing, but when Gunton writes things such as 'we relate to things as the are' or 'everything is what it is and not another thing' it sounds to me very essentialistic. And even more problematically, it sounds like there is no room for change and development. This goes flatly against what I understand 'relational' to mean (an emphasis on relationally without any possibility of change sounds very hollow indeed) and furthermore, it goes against Gunton's own critique of Irenaeus, that Irenaeus essentialism hinders the thought of recapitulatio and how humankind was created perfect but in need of maturation.



Gunton is lucid as usual and he manage to show how important it is that we take a step away from our individualistic worldview. Gunton brings together doctrine of creation with christology and the doctrine of trinity so that one realise how important the orthodox dogmas really are.

[William Barrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christ and Creation publishes the four lectures Gunton presented for the Didsbury Lecture in 1990 at Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, UK. Gunton stimulates discussion of the relationship of both the deity and the humanity of Christ with regard to His involvement in creation. He warns against studying the biblical topic of original creation without making the focus the Creator Himself. He also argues for the future implications of biblical creation. When it comes to the role of science and modern secular scientism, Gunton reminds us, "Here, it is essential to be aware of the increasing recognition of the partial nature of the sciences. It is still easy in our culture to treat the sciences as the vehicles of omniscient explanation of all that is. To the contrary, recent discussion of the history and philosophy of science has made it clear that the sciences abstract, taking from the whole a part in order to understand one of its determinants, but in so doing disqualifying themselves from understanding the whole. This would always have been understood had it been recalled that all human knowledge is finite, because the human capacity for understanding is limited" (pp. 41–42). In my opinion Gunton raises some significant questions and proposes the need for careful theological consideration, but misses many opportunities to address more directly the multi-faceted role of Christ in creation.

[Eric Chappell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stimulating and thoughtful series of four lectures attempting to weave together the doctrines of creation and Christology. Gunton expects familiarity with Christology in the Western tradition. He provides a compelling case for how to relate several loci in systematic theology to come to a clearer picture of Jesus' person and work. Very dense. Very helpful.