From: Howard J. Van Till (hvantill@chartermi.net)
Date: Sun Sep 07 2003 - 18:34:35 EDT
>From: George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com>
> But I'd also add that focusing on the question of whether or not our world
(or
> the WORLD) has had a temporal beginning deflects attention from the basic
> theological
> question. As we touched on in discussing Aquinas, it would be possible
> (not worrying
> for a moment about biblical texts) to say that the universe has always existed
in
> eternal dependence on God alone, & call that creatio ex nihilo. But
> process theology
> (unless it's radically reworked) can't do that. For process thought
individual
> phenomena are not determined by God alone, & that certainly must be true for
> the entire universe. The rejection of creatio ex nihilo goes deeper than a
> denial that
> the universe had a beginning of time.
Correct. In fact, Griffin's concern with creatio ex nihilo is not so much a
concern for the question of the eternality vs finitude of this universe's
temporal duration, but with those deeper theological questions about the
ultimate source of evil, about whether or not God controls all things, about
whether or not God has the ability or will to intervene supernaturally, and
the like. I look forward to some fruitful discussions when these lectures
are published.
Howard Van Till
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