Creation Flashcards
What are the three Principles to bear in mind when reading creation accounts (Ratzinger, In the Beginning)?
1) Form vs. Content.
• Bible is not a scientific textbook: Form in Genesis = Symbolic/Images/Allegory; Content in Genesis = Truth God reveals.
2) The Unity of the Bible.
• Gen. 1-2: This is not the beginning and end of creation in the Bible; Creation is a theme explored throughout the Bible.
3) Entirety of Scripture must be read in the light of the event of Christ.
• Jesus is the beginning and end of God’s word to us
Data of the Old Testament about Creation
1) Gen. 1:1-2:4a (Priestly - 6th c. B.C.) & Gen. 2:4b-2:25 (Yahwist - 10th c. B.C.)
• Common = God and God alone is creator of all (bara (Hb) = “To create” (In Bible it is used ONLY with God as subject).
2) Isaiah 40:12 - Praise, worship, and adoration of God as creator of all.
3) 2 Maccabees 7:28 - Mother and Seven Sons.
4) Psalm 24 - God as King - God as Creator.
5) Psalm 33 - “He spoke and it came to be.” - Absolute creative power of the Word of God.
6) Psalm 104 - God as creator and provider.
7) Sirach 39
Data in the New Testament About Creation
1) John 1:1 - Ratzinger: This is where we should go for creation; God, the co-creative eternal Word of God, became man.
2) Revelation 1:8 - Christ as Alpha and Omega - Beginning and End of all (incl. creation).
3) Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God” - Jesus Christ brings past, present, and future together.
4) *N.b. Magisterial Teaching: Creation, and our teaching of it, has been handed down in the scriptural tradition
What are the eight elements that summarize the Christian (Biblical) Vision of Creation?
1) Creation is the Work of the Holy Trinity.
2) The World (the totality of existence) is/was created for the Glory of God (Ratzinger: “Creation is ordered toward worship).
3) God creates by Wisdom, by Love, and in Total Freedom.
4) God creates Out of Nothing (ex nihilo).
5) God creates a world that is Ordered and Good.
6) God is Transcendent to his creation, yet He is intimately Present to it.
7) God Upholds and Sustains creation (“creation continua”) (i.e., not deism).
8) Creation is Centered in Jesus Christ
What are the five perspectives of Creation rejected by the Church?
1) Dualism = > Almost always an over-emphasis on the spiritual: Denial of the goodness of creation; Denial of Incarnation.
2) Pantheism => Everything is God: The goodness of creation is affirmed, but it goes too far.
3) Deism => God creates, but does not remain present to creation, does not uphold and sustain creation (e.g. “Clockmaker” God).
4) Emanationism => Everything emanates from God, suggesting a necessity of creation (Denies the Free Will of God).
5) Materialism => A denial of God, spiritual powers, a plan in creation (Emblematic of the scientific community today)
What does Nicaea I say about Creation?
“We believe in one God…maker of heaven and earth.”
325 AD
What does Lateran IV say about Creation?
“There is only one true God…The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one essence.…They are the one principle of the universe, creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal…”
(1215 AD)
What does Vatican I in Dei Filius say about Creation?
“This is the one true God…”: One and only true God; Not for increase of happiness; To manifest his goodness; Absolute freedom; Ex nihilo; Spiritual and Corporeal; Protects and governs all things.
(1870)
What does Paul VI say about polygenism (i.e. Concept that the human species comes from many parents)?
This science does not seem reconcilable with Biblical Revelation, especially with regard to the transmission of Original Sin from one set of human parents.
• N.b. Many theologians have articulated that it is possible to reconcile polygenism & original sin
[Address of Paul VI (1966) to International Symposium on Original Sin]
What does Paul VI say about evolutionism?
Evolution is only acceptable insofar as it does not reject that each and every human soul is willed and created by God & that original sin is upheld (i.e. a single Adam figure)
[Address of Paul VI (1966) to International Symposium on Original Sin]
