Concerns about the future of creation order

The theological background to the notion of the law of nature/ creation order is indispensable to the reformational tradition, which recognises that these laws are the Creator?s will, and therefore holds a “necessity” view of these laws. There has, however, been a longstanding debate about the natur...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Verhoef, Anné 1972- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2011
In: Koers
Year: 2011, Volume: 76, Issue: 4, Pages: 731-750
Further subjects:B Robert W Jenson
B Process Philosophy
B Creation Order
B Trinitarian Theology
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Summary:The theological background to the notion of the law of nature/ creation order is indispensable to the reformational tradition, which recognises that these laws are the Creator?s will, and therefore holds a “necessity” view of these laws. There has, however, been a longstanding debate about the nature of law within the reformational tradition, where its origin and its status as boundary between God and creation have been questioned. In this article I will investigate how Trinitarian theology, specifically that of Robert W. Jenson, relates to process philosophy and theology, and how together they create some theological concerns about the future of creation order. Some of the concerns include the following: that the necessity of order is questioned (the disappearance of a Creator who wills these laws); that order is temporal and in constant change; and that the boundary between God and creation is weakened. I will raise some objections to these aspects, but will also highlight some questions the reformational tradition has to answer in terms of its understanding of the immanence of God and of the implicated theological basis for the creation order. These questions are of the utmost importance for the understanding of the future of creation order.
ISSN:2304-8557
Contains:Enthalten in: Koers
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.4102/koers.v76i4.418