Creator

Review: Creator

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Creator: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1, Peter J. Leithart. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514002162), 2023.

Summary: Considering philosophical discussions of the being of God, turns to Genesis 1 which reveals the Triune Creator who speaks and sees, who loves and is good.

The challenge of this book for the person without a background in philosophy is to get past the first three chapters which explore questions of God’s being, self-existence, and simplicity, and what may be said of God, wrestling with the challenge of apophaticism, in which we can only say what God is not. There are questions of how God relates to the physical world and how God can be an unmoved mover and yet retain God’s simplicity. Along the way, Peter J. Leithart invokes Aquinas and Aristotle, Plato and Plotinus, Augustine and Bulgakov, among others. It’s challenging reading, and important for its exploration of discussions of the being and nature of God.

It also sets us up for the radical turn in the second half from the reasonings of pagan and Christian philosophers to the revelation of Genesis 1. We find here no discussions of the Absolute, the One, or Being. The first thing we learn of God is that God is almighty Creator. Scripture does not know of a God “without interplay with creatures, without a created playground” (p. 150). Creation reflects who God is from eternity. God’s transcendence is over creation, never apart from it. Unlike Greek philosophy, there is no God unrelated to creation.

Furthermore, Leithart asserts, against those who propose that the “we” of Genesis 1 is a heavenly council, that Genesis 1 reveals a Triune Creator. There is a harmonious unity, creating, calling by Word, and forming or hovering–Father, Son, and Spirit. In this, the life of God is revealed as “justice, holiness, wisdom, power, goodness, and truth, all actualized in the infinitely mobile, infinitely lively, inexhaustibly energetic life of triune love, a;; actualized in relation to a contingent creation” (p. 209).

What then do we say of God’s being, the question of ontology. We often speak of God as “I am” as one who is self sufficient, but utterly other. Yet a Triune Creator is both utterly sufficient, but also utterly related to creation, which reveals the self-giving love of the Triune loving Creator.

Genesis 1 reveals a God who speaks and sees. Leithart notes: “All created action, all moments and periods and bodies of time, all created experience is suspended between God’s saying and his seeing.” A staggering thought indeed–that all of our existence is encompassed and sustained and directed by God’s saying and seeing.

My experience of this book was to move from exasperation with my efforts to follow philosophical arguments to exultation in worship of the Triune Creator who speaks and sees all creation–and that so much may be found in Genesis 1 that is not mere polemical ammunition in origins debates.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Goodness Leading to Thanksgiving

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Photo by M. Rehemtulla [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by M. Rehemtulla [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I am celebrating Thanksgiving today. You might wonder from my post on From Lament to Thanksgiving if today was going to be a somber affair for us. No way! There will be food, family, great conversation, and football.

“But doesn’t that contradict what you wrote yesterday?” No, and here is why. While there is indeed a “problem of evil” in our world, the larger “problem” it seems to me is that of goodness. Why is it that soldiers tell jokes in the midst of battle, and show pictures of sweethearts while in the trenches? Why is it that even in the times surrounding funerals, we cannot resist telling stories that evoke laughter, even about the deceased, or enjoying good food and drink? It is because somehow, we believe deep down that the good is somehow more enduring and real than evil, that life somehow prevails over death and that with all the evil we see, we live in a world shot through with goodness.

So much of that goodness comes in the ordinary warp and woof of life. Sometimes it is the amazing feeling of refreshment after sleeping in after a good night’s sleep. Sometimes it is that first sip from the first cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes it is in the first hug and first “I love you” of the day. There are all the shared moments and shared memories that weave the tapestry of a family’s life together.

Then there is the work of our days. Some is around our home and particularly the making of a place of welcome together. I also work in an amazing organization filled with gifted people of every ethnicity using their gifts to pursue the glory of God in the university world. I’m often amazed to be counted among them and to have been blessed to share in this work for 38 years. I work alongside amazing students and faculty, brilliant people of character pursuing their work with God-honoring excellence.

I often find myself giving thanks and rejoicing in the beauties of artistic expression, poor imitations at best of the work of our Creator. This past Tuesday in our Capriccio Columbus rehearsal, the men sat and listened to a number of our women sing a beautiful piece as our director tried to figure out who should have the solo. What struck me was all the different ways our women sang this so beautifully. While they sang the same notes and words, nuances of emphasis and varying timbres of voice reminded me that goodness and beauty have so many expressions.

I don’t think days like Thanksgiving are an escape but rather a celebration that affirms the deep sense we have that goodness, truth, and beauty will prevail in the end. And it is a day to gives thanks both to and for those who mean so much to us, and for those who believe that all this goodness comes from a good Creator, to offer that thanks to Him. And so I eagerly look forward to our family gathering today when we may do all of these things.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I also want to thank all those who read and especially who comment on this blog. Much of the joy of writing it has been in learning of the joy or insight it gives another and the thoughts it provokes that you share, which often enlighten me as well. Happy Thanksgiving!