Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters (Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic)<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0801038936\")
<\/em><\/strong>, is probing into the question above and he does it through the lens of the Flood Story. He generates idea after idea in this study, so I\u2019ll keep it to a minimum:<\/p>\nFirst, he begins by exploring how \u201cjudgment\u201d by God in the Old Testament is about the effects of human sin, not so much a penalty or punishment by God. This means that the relationship of sin and its consequence is more intrinsic than forensic. [That\u2019s a big idea, but this post would get too long if we developed it.]<\/p>\n
Second, God chooses to subject himself to this just created order [which God designed]. God gives creatures freedom; there\u2019s a looseness to the causal weave in the created order; God uses agents and God is at work in the agent, but the agent is the one who does the deed. Thus, one text can say God did something and another one that a human (or flood) did it: Jer 13:14 and 21:7. That is, God portrayal is conformed to the agents God uses. [Another big idea.]<\/p>\n
Thus, in the Flood story: God is at work but God doesn\u2019t act until later in direct terms. The actions are those of the \u201cflood of waters\u201d and the \u201cfountains of the great deep burst forth\u201d and the \u201cwindows of heaven were opened\u201d (cf. Gen 6:11-13; 7:11, 17-20, 24).<\/p>\n
So, for Fretheim, we get a reshaped characterization of God in the Flood Story:He develops ten themes:<\/p>\n
1. Relationships: God creates a world where there is a web of relational networks, and God is in that web.<\/p>\n
2. Agents: God uses agents: storm and flood and water; the moral order of sin and consequences gets tied into cosmic and natural orders; and God uses Noah, the righteous man, to redeem.<\/p>\n
3. Emotions: God is affectable in the Flood Story. This means God is involved in the network.<\/p>\n
4. God\u2019s regret: can\u2019t get around this one so I\u2019ll quote it. Gen 6:<\/p>\n
6:5\u00a0But the\u00a0Lord\u00a0saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.\u00a06:6\u00a0The\u00a0Lordregretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.\u00a06:7\u00a0So the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said, \u201cI will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth \u2013 everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
5. God\u2019s plans: Fretheim says God\u2019s regret assumes God not know for sure that humans would turn to evil; he puts it this way: \u201cGod knows all there is to know, including all possibilities, but there is a future that is not yet available for knowing, not even for God\u201d (58).<\/p>\n
6. Human resistance: humans can and do resist God\u2019s plan and will. He speaks here of \u201cdivine vulnerability\u201d (58).<\/p>\n
7. God\u2019s change of strategy. There is change within God in this Flood Story.<\/p>\n
8. God\u2019s grief: God\u2019s \u201cheart was filled with pain\u201d and the word \u201cpain\u201d is the same as the one found in Gen 3:16-17. Grief is the godward side of judgment and wrath.<\/p>\n
9. God\u2019s suffering: a big theme for Fretheim. Since humans resist God and sin after the Flood, the pain of God about sin continues. Suffering is central to the theme of God in the Bible for Fretheim.<\/p>\n
10. God\u2019s promises: God makes promises and this limits God; a divine self-limitation. God will contain himself within his promises. This broaches God\u2019s utter faithfulness.<\/p>\n
He sees natural disorders as reflecting part of this divine self-limitation of how God will act in this world. God will not bring the world to an end, as God did before, and that means God will permit the world to wreak vengeance on itself in the sin and consequence moral order.<\/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 One of the more significant passage in the Old Testament for shaping our understanding of God \u2014 or perhaps a passage that if we take it serious will shape our view […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[644,1774,337],"tags":[2272,389],"class_list":["post-9905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation","category-problems-for-faith","category-theology","tag-terence-fretheim","tag-theodicy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/40\/2010\/10\/Katrina.jpg\" "\\"Katrina\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n