God created a world that was good, but not perfect<\/em>.<\/p>\nHis previous studies are summarized here, but the big point is quite clear and fundamentally challenges major ideas: the world was not perfect; creation was not completed; creation continued.<\/p>\n
The question that arises here is this: Does Genesis 1-2\u2019s creation account suggest an \u201copenness\u201d to God, a kind of open theism, a kind of divine-human cooperative in the ongoing \u201ccreation\u201d and \u201cdevelopment\u201d of the created world?<\/strong><\/p>\nIn Genesis 1\u20132 we get the word \u201cgood\u201d (with \u201cvery good\u201d) and we hear this word as something God says of the created world. God does not say \u201cperfect\u201d and he doesn\u2019t say \u201cinnocent.\u201d God says \u201cgood.\u201d Which means what? It corresponds to what God wanted it to be. This created world, when God said \u201cvery good,\u201d was not static or perfect.<\/p>\n
If it were perfect, nothing could go wrong, but things did go wrong. Humans are called to \u201csubdue\u201d the earth \u2014 before Genesis 3! \u2014 and that means the earth was not entirely subdued, and that means the earth was not perfect. It was good and was moving toward perfect.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s creation was to bring order out of disorder. Humans are called to participate with God in the continuing subduing of the disorder of creation. The world need work, and we are called to participate with God in that work of bringing order to creation.<\/p>\n
God in some sense hands the task over to humans. Freedom is inherent to this task \u2014 we are free to do or not to do what God calls us to do: subdue the earth, that is, bring it into the order of its creator.This tells us something about God: God shared his creation work with us, and that means the traditional view that God is in absolute control and with overwhelming power is not entirely accurate. If Fretheim\u2019s right here, that means humans aren\u2019t to imitate a controlling, powerful God but a sharing, cooperating God. God forms an interdependent relation with his created world.<\/p>\n
Themes are then developed out of Genesis 1-2:<\/p>\n
God created out of already existing materials \u2014 which is the point of Genesis 1:1-2.<\/p>\n
God calls already-existing creatures to bring about new creations \u2014 \u201clet the earth bring forth\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n
God invites the divine council to participate in the creation of humans \u2014 \u201clet us create\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
God involves the human in still further acts of creation \u2014 tilling ground, be fruitful, Eve \u201ccreated a man child\u201d in Genesis 4:1, Adam names\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201c\u2026 if God cares for so much for all creatures, why didn\u2019t God create a world in which there would be no natural disasters?\u201d Terence Fretheim asks why God created a world in which bad things happen in his new book,\u00a0Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters (Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic). He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[2272],"class_list":["post-9353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation","tag-terence-fretheim"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/40\/2010\/10\/Katrina.jpg\" "\\"Katrina\\"")
<\/a>Terence Fretheim asks why God created a world in which bad things happen in his new book,\u00a0Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters (Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic)<\/a>