Description
Book SynopsisThe theology of creation interconnected with virtually every aspect of early Christian thought, from Trinitarian doctrine to salvation to ethics. Paul M. Blowers provides an advanced introduction to the multiplex relation between Creator and creation as an object both of theological construction and religious devotion in the early church. While revisiting the polemical dimension of Christian responses to Greco-Roman philosophical cosmology and heterodox Gnostic and Marcionite traditions on the origin, constitution, and destiny of the cosmos, Blowers focuses more substantially on the positive role of patristic theological interpretation of Genesis and other biblical creation texts in eliciting Christian perspectives on the multifaceted relation between Creator and creation. Greek, Syriac, and Latin patristic commentators, Blowers argues, were ultimately motivated less by purely cosmological concerns than by the urge to depict creation as the enduring creative and redemptive strategy of
Trade ReviewBlower has responded to the need for an overarching and articulate treatment of early Christian doctrines of creation. The book he has produced shows us that a sound knowledge of these doctrines is crucial to thinking about theology more generally, both ancient and modern. * Thomas E. Hunt, Theology *
An eloquent epilogue ... recapitulates the main theme rounding off a fine book. ... I do not think that it could be much better composed. * Lionel Wickham, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Legacies of Greco-Roman Cosmological Wisdom ; 3. Legacies of Hellenistic Jewish Cosmological Wisdom ; 4. The Shaping of Normative Discourse about Creator and Creation in Pre-Nicene Christianity ; 5. Creation in the Mirror of Scripture I: Patristic Approaches to the Genesis Creation Story ; 6. Toward a Christian Theology of the Beginning (and End) of the World ; 7. Creation in the Mirror of Scripture II: Patristic Approaches to the Biblical Witnesses beyond Genesis ; 8. Christ the Creator and the Creator Spirit: The Drama of the Incarnation and the Remaking of Creation ; 9. Performing Faith in the Creator: The Drama of the Divine Economy as the Framework of Devotional and Ritual Practices in the Early Church ; Epilogue: Drama of the Divine Economy
