Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed) - Hardcover

There are few scholars today who are sufficiently versed in the tradition of theological reflection on creation, fewer still who possess both the theological and philosophical acumen required to make sense of it, and even fewer who have the ability to distil that tradition and explain its relevance in highly accessible prose. Simon Oliver is one of those rare scholars, and this work is a correspondingly rare achievement. one could not ask for a better introduction to the doctrine of creation - not just in its historical origins and scope, but also in its dazzling metaphysical depth.
John Betz, University of Notre Dame, USA

Oliver offers more than a cutting edge introduction to a key topic of Christian doctrine. He combines his unique skills as a didactically experienced common sense philosopher with an extraordinary historical erudition. This will not only provide future scholars with a firm grounding in the tradition of Christian learning. Since his book enables us to see through the pseudo-problems of half-educated philosophers, scientists and opinion leaders, it will also create space for the engagement with real challenges of our time: to face the spiritually, socially and ecologically devastating consequences of our techno-scientific world-view, which are anything but an inescapable adverse effect of the history of scientific progress.
Johannes Hoff, Heythrop College London, UK

This addition to our popular Guides for the Perplexed series tackles a subject that is enjoying renewed debate: Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, claims that the universe is not a brute fact. It is 'created'. But what do we mean by 'creation'? Do we mean that the universe is 'designed'? Is it the product of an evolutionary process? How are creatures related to God, and does God act within creation? Simon Oliver begins with the background to the Christian theology of creation in Greek philosophy and the Old Testament. This provides a route into understanding the claim that we are part of a created order that is also the theatre of God's providential action. He examines different understandings of creation, including creation out of nothing and the analogy of being, with close reference to the work of patristic and medieval theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. This leads to an historical overview of the relationship between theological, philosophical and scientific approaches to creation in the modern period. Some of the ethical issues concerning humanity's place within, and treatment of, creation and our environment are also examined. A distinctive yet traditional theology of creation is proposed focused on the concepts of gift and participation as ways of understanding more fully the meaning and implications of the claim that the universe is created.