Rusty Reno had some sharp observations on the importance of creatio ex nihilo in a paper giving a preview of his theological commentary on Genesis. He said that it fit with the overall Scriptural polemic against idolatry, and demonstrates that idolatry is fundamentally nihilism ?Edevotion to nothing, what does not exist. It also manifests what Reno elegantly referred to as the Bible’s “ontological parsimony.” Instead of the crowded gnostic ontology, full of intervening beings and levels between the High God and this messy material world, the Bible has only God and the creation. This ontological parsimony, further, is the presupposition of Nicene Christological fullness. Who is Jesus? If we assume creatio ex nihilo , there are only two possible answers: Either He is a man pure and simple or He is incarnate God. He cannot be some “intermediate” being, for no such exists.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
