Creation Made Free:
Open Theology Engaging Science
Comments
Open Theology offers an advantageous framework for engaging
the sciences. With its emphasis upon creaturely freedom, relationality, realist
epistemology, and love, Open Theology makes a fruitful dialogue partner with
leading fields and theories in contemporary science.
In Creation Made Free,
leading proponents of open theism explore natural and social scientific
dimensions of reality as these dimensions both inform and are informed by Open
Theology. Important themes addressed include evolution, creation ex nihilo,
emergence theory, biblical cosmology, cognitive linguistics, quantum theory, and
forgiveness.
“One of the most significant theological movements of our day, Open theism bridges evangelical commitment and mainline concerns. The leading Open theists come together in these pages to listen and to respond to the sciences. In their respect for the empirical results and their resistance to flat-footed naturalism, these essays model the 'creative mutual interaction' of theology and science in its most sophisticated form.
“One of the most significant theological movements of our day, Open theism bridges evangelical commitment and mainline concerns. The leading Open theists come together in these pages to listen and to respond to the sciences. In their respect for the empirical results and their resistance to flat-footed naturalism, these essays model the 'creative mutual interaction' of theology and science in its most sophisticated form.
- Philip
Clayton, Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology
“Open Theology presents a more mutual interactive account of God's relationship to creation than that given by classical theology. The essays in Creation Made Free provide a wide-ranging survey of the diversity, promise, and problems of this important twentieth-century development in theological insight.”
- Revd John Polkinghorne, KBE, FRS
About the Author
Visit Amazon's Thomas Jay Oord Page
Thomas Jay Oord is Professor of Theology at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. He is the author of numerous books, including A Turn to Love (2009).
Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of
multi-disciplinary studies. He is the author or editor of about twenty books,
and he is professor at Northwest Nazarene University, in Nampa, Idaho. Oord is
known for his contributions to research on love, altruism, open and relational
theology, issues in science and religion, Wesleyan/Holiness/Church of the
Nazarene thought, New Evangelical theology, and postmodernism. He is or has been
president of several scholarly societies. Oord blogs frequently at his website:
http://thomasjayoord.com
About the Book
Amazon Listing
- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1606084887
- ISBN-13: 978-1606084885
Most Helpful Customer
Reviews
Format:Paperback
Creation Made Free is a solid contribution to the study of
open theology engaging science. Tom Oord has done a superb job assembling expert
contributors to this important work. I highly recommend it to anyone who hails
from a theological tradition that has failed to address God's desire for a
significantly free creation. Creation made free is a book that opens the door to
biblically based possibilities that may not be discussed in classical theism.
Readers will benefit from wide ranging discussions in cosmology, evolution,
creation, epistemology and practical theology. In short, you get a lot of bang
for your buck!
On a personal level I have always struggled to bridge the gap between science and faith with my understanding never going beyond the surface. In Creation Made Free, Tom Oord invites his readers into four major discussions that include very helpful introductory remarks. The information found in each section will challenge both the academic and the novice. Common misunderstandings are dealt with along with the dreaded myth-information that swirls about open theism. I personally have benefited from this book, and I think you will too. Best of all, I came away with renewed appreciation for God's significantly free creation and love for the one who made it so.
4.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the Intersections of Open Theism and Modern Science May 28, 2011
On a personal level I have always struggled to bridge the gap between science and faith with my understanding never going beyond the surface. In Creation Made Free, Tom Oord invites his readers into four major discussions that include very helpful introductory remarks. The information found in each section will challenge both the academic and the novice. Common misunderstandings are dealt with along with the dreaded myth-information that swirls about open theism. I personally have benefited from this book, and I think you will too. Best of all, I came away with renewed appreciation for God's significantly free creation and love for the one who made it so.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
4.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the Intersections of Open Theism and Modern Science May 28, 2011
By Brian
Format:Paperback
Creation Made Free is a book edited by Thomas Jay Oord that explores the intersections of open theism and modern science. Thirteen different theologians reflect on different aspects of this topic, so this book is beautifully nuanced. (I'm very biased in favor of edited books because of the diversity of thought.) While this book diverges from its focus on science from time to time, it's theological reflection is refreshingly insightful and evocative without being overly academic or pedantic. Therefore this book is worth a brief-yet-comprehensive review/overview.
Creation Made Free is a book edited by Thomas Jay Oord that explores the intersections of open theism and modern science. Thirteen different theologians reflect on different aspects of this topic, so this book is beautifully nuanced. (I'm very biased in favor of edited books because of the diversity of thought.) While this book diverges from its focus on science from time to time, it's theological reflection is refreshingly insightful and evocative without being overly academic or pedantic. Therefore this book is worth a brief-yet-comprehensive review/overview.
Karen Winslow argued
that "the earth is not a planet" in the Bible (26). When the authors of Genesis
write about "all the land" they are not talking about planet earth. Instead they
are describing the limited part of the world that they knew. So, for example,
the big flood would not have destroyed the entire earth in a global sense, it
would have simply destroyed the entire world of the author. Winslow uses this
info to make her ultimate point: the scientific knowledge of the authors of
Scripture was very different than the scientific knowledge of modern people. The
authors were writing out of a different context as well as writing for a
different context. Therefore Winslow said: "To try to force the Bible into
categories of modern science creates an unnecessary opposition between theology
and science" (24). After removing the awkwardness between the science of the
modern and ancient worlds, she drives home her point about what that means for
our reading of Scripture today: "Recognizing and appreciating what the Bible
does not say is as important as understanding what it does say"
(27).
Thomas Jay Oord tried to reconcile science and open theism by
suggesting that God works through the process of evolution in a way that is
"slow, indirect, and sometimes painful" (36). He suggests that Jesus revealed a
God who is "self-sacrificial and non-coersive" and therefore "does not overrule
or dominate creatures" (35). God gives humans - and all living things - freewill
and agency. This freedom brings with it the risk of evil happening since God
doesn't force anyone or anything to do the right thing. While God is the most
powerful being in the universe, God doesn't invade the integrity of other
creatures out of God's self-giving love for the creatures. Here Oord tried to
walk a fine line between process theology and his own open
theism.
Michael Lodahl wrote about how Christianity is more open to the
scientific worldview than Islam due to Islam's higher understanding of God's
sovereignty. Islam tends to be committed to the absolute sovereignty of God.
While the Quran gives humanity some agency over their lives (58), the Quran is
also understood as a perfect revelation by an all-powerful God to a passive
people. Lodahl then argued that such an understanding of God "surely undercuts
the scientific endeavor" (65). He then went on to argue that Christianity is
able to support the view of open theism because the incarnation (God in the form
of a dynamic human) and Holy Spirit (God's presence in our midst). For Lodahl,
open theism makes Christianity more supportive of modern science than theologies
like Islam that hold to the idea that God's power is absolute.
Anne
Case-Winters argued that God's ongoing presence in the world means that the
world is continuing to be created and re-created by God. For her, the
"incarnation is not the exception to the rule but the sign of what is really the
case about God's relation to the world" (71). God has been and always will be
present and active in the world. This point is important for Case-Winters
because she argues that God creates and sustains the world through "the
processes of the natural order" (82). In and through all things, God beckons
each creature away from evils and toward their best potential. In some ways, this
essay seemed to be suggesting that process theology is better than open
theism.
Brint Montgomery wrote about how "God functions as Cosmic Mind
after the creation of an ordered, material universe" (97). This essay was the
least relevant and evocative in the book.
Clark Pinnock argued that God
creates and re-creates the world through the process of evolution. He rejects
the idea of "episodic divine interventions" because it brings back a "god of the
gaps" (103). Instead he upholds the idea that God is continually active and
creating. He wrote: "Evolution is opening the future up as God is calling the
universe to reach beyond itself to a new creation" (108). Because God is always
re-creating the world, each moment is "pregnant with hope" (110). Pinnock ends
with an evocative thought: "Ours is a world capable of becoming the kingdom of
God." The purpose of our lives is to carry forward the values of the divine
project. Sin is the refusal to participate in it. One can think of the omega
point, not as a rigid goal, but as God's vision for the world and what the
process can become" (110).
Craig Boyd suggested that the earth isn't a perfect, static world, but instead, it's a good, dynamic creation where God is continually at work. For him, evolution is the story about how God creates and re-creates the world. As creatures act and react, God needs to adjust and readjust the vision for the journey forward. He ended by writing: "Creation is more like a song that begins with a simple melody. As it continues, the musicians improvise here and there with variations on the theme...God's song of creation is a song open to possibility, novelty, and ever-increasing goodness and beauty" (124).
Craig Boyd suggested that the earth isn't a perfect, static world, but instead, it's a good, dynamic creation where God is continually at work. For him, evolution is the story about how God creates and re-creates the world. As creatures act and react, God needs to adjust and readjust the vision for the journey forward. He ended by writing: "Creation is more like a song that begins with a simple melody. As it continues, the musicians improvise here and there with variations on the theme...God's song of creation is a song open to possibility, novelty, and ever-increasing goodness and beauty" (124).
Gregory Boyd argued that "evolution may be seen as a
sort of warfare between the life-affirming creativity of an all-good God, on the
one hand, and the on-going corrupting influence of malevolent cosmic forces on
the other" (127). Boyd's reflections were the most judgemental, including two
places where he said readers need to agree with him in order to be biblical
(132, 139). This essay went too far down the doctrinaire rabbit
hole.
Alan Rhoda wrote about God's decision to give humans freewill and
the subsequent openness of the future because of that choice. Instead of a
determined future, there is a "branching array of possible futures" (151). Rhoda
goes on to propose analogies that describe God's relationship to the world:
Theatre Director (brings out the best in the actors), Discussion Leader (helps
students explore wisdom), Persian Rug-Maker (adapts the design as needed), Master Composer (helps autonomous musicians to find harmony together), and Expedition Leader (brings tools and resources - including the ability to change
plans). Rhoda then used game theory to suggest that God plays games with many
different people, with many different skill levels, so the strategy that God
uses to play the game is different in each new game. The one constant feature in
this game theory analogy is that God wants to find a win-win for every game.
Clearly all of these analogies are used to illustrate the creativity and
rationality of God with humanity.
Alan Padgett argued that God's
knowledge is supreme (without knowing the future) and God's providence is
powerful (without being coercive). In this essay, Padgett adds some much needed
nuance to the discussion of God's foreknowledge and sovereignty.
Richard
Rice used his essay to suggest that God's forgiveness of humanity demonstrates
God's ability to resourcefully bring about transformation. God isn't naive. Bad
things happen. But God is able to forgive people for their sins and then bring
about change for the better. This means "the future is always open to new
possibilities" (214). By emphasizing God's ability to bring about
transformation, "Open theism keeps open the possibility of a future in which
God's purposes for all God's children are fullfilled" (217). In the end,
forgiveness is the foundation for hope.
John Sanders wrote about how we
come to know, understand, and describe God through our embodiment as creatures.
There are many different kinds of metaphors for God in the Bible but most of
them are personal, relational metaphors. He then argued that "mutual
relationships are the ideal form of relationship between God and humans" in
Scripture (233). People seem to relate best to images of God as personal.
Sanders used a quote from John Calvin to make his point: "God cannot reveal
Godself to us in any other way than by comparison with things we know" (219).
Humans relate well to a humanly God.
Dean Blevins argued that the
continuously emerging world is a result of the ongoing transformations that God
brings about through God's loving relationship with the world. Out of God's love
for the world, God is intimately involved in the world, even at the quantum
level. Our relationship with God is based on "co-relationality" and a
"co-determinative" process whereby the world is co-created with God. In this
process, God is aways leading us toward creative transformations in the
future.
Creation Made Free is a great book for exploring Christianity's relationship to science, introducing open theism in general, or comparing process theology to open theism. If none of those topics seem worth exploring, then this would be a very boring book. But if any - or all - of those topics sound intriguing, then this book just might be an edge-of-your-seat theological thriller. Since I experienced this book as a thriller, I hope there will soon be a sequel!
Creation Made Free is a great book for exploring Christianity's relationship to science, introducing open theism in general, or comparing process theology to open theism. If none of those topics seem worth exploring, then this would be a very boring book. But if any - or all - of those topics sound intriguing, then this book just might be an edge-of-your-seat theological thriller. Since I experienced this book as a thriller, I hope there will soon be a sequel!
