Imagining The Creator God

Ever since it was demonstrated in the 1920s that the universe, with its trillions of galaxies, is caught up in a process of steady expansion, it became evident that it must have originated from an "initial singularity," a "Big Bang," which gave rise to the formation of subatomic parts, atoms, molecules, clouds of gas, and finally, stars and galaxies. Running this expansion back in time, scientists began to reckon with the miracle of an evolving universe of which we are the outcome: the iron in our blood has been formed in the stars. This book gives an overview of the cosmologies that were in vogue in antiquity­--the Jewish and Christian concepts of Creation, and the classical thinkers in Greek cosmology: Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy--and in modern times, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. The book brings us right down to the present day with a careful and readable treatment of the scientific innovations inaugurated by Einstein and the specialists in quantum physics, and to recent developments in astrophysics. This path of exploration opens the avenue for imagining a Creator God who is so generous that he invites creation to share in his own creativity.

Garrett Green examines the point at which divine revelation and human experience meet, where the priority of grace is acknowledged while allowing its dynamics to be described in analytical and comparative terms as a religious phenomenon.

'A mere metaphor', 'only symbolic', 'just a myth' - these tell tale phrases reveal how figurative language has been cheapened and devalued in our modern and postmodern culture. In God and the Creative Imagination, Paul Avis argues the contrary: we see that actually, metaphor, symbol and myth, are the key to a real knowledge of God and the sacred. Avis examines what he calls an alternative tradition, stemming from the Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth and Keats and drawing on the thought of Cleridge and Newman, and experience in both modern philosophy and science. God and the Creative Imagination intriguingly draws on a number of non-theological disciplines, from literature to philosophy of science, to show us that God is appropriately likened to an artist or poet and that the greatest truths are expressed in an imaginative form. Anyone wishing to further their understanding of God, belief and the imagination will find this an inspiring work.

Humans are composed of poetic tissues as surely as physical ones. Our identities, worldviews, longings--all are drawn and developed from the unique relationships and texts we encounter and incorporate. We collect and imagine stories and creatively build them into the tale of ourselves. But each of these personal mythologies is irrevocably lost at death--unless it is true, as Christianity claims, that God raises the dead. Systematic Mythology: Imagining the Invisible studies the ways in which we make meaning. It argues that God must be the ultimate subject of every person's essential myth, so that Christ may redeem and resurrect our stories as well as our bodies. Systematic mythology calls us to consciously and creatively participate in the story God is telling through our cosmos and its inhabitants: a story in which Christ is all, and in all.

Cynthia Crysdale and Neil Ormerod here present a robust theology of God in light of supposed tensions between Christian belief and evolutionary science. Those who pit faith in an almighty and unchanging God over against a world in which chance is operative have it wrong on several accounts, they insist. Creator God, Evolving World clarifies a number of confused assumptions in an effort to redeem chance as an intelligible force interacting with stable patterns in nature. A proper conception of probabilities and regularities in the world's unfolding reveals neither random chaos nor a predetermined blueprint but a view of the universe as the fruit of both chance and necessity. By clarifying terms often used imprecisely in both scientific and theological discourse, the authors make the case that the role of chance in evolution neither mitigates God's radical otherness from creation nor challenges the efficacy of God's providence in the world.

An ever-growing number of Christians are becoming more and more uncomfortable with the tenets of the church, the stories of the Bible, and the church’s worldview. Statistics show that these feelings easily escalate into a crisis of faith, and for now their predicament is being resolved by leaving the church. This book will certainly help dealing with the crisis by showing that the language of faith is built by a web of metaphors taken from the Ancient Near East. We do not need to take biblical language literally, but as parables for human values in need to be assessed critically.

The deterioration of our natural environment under the impact of a rampant technological society is one of the major crises of our time. For many analysts, a primary cause of this crisis is the influence on Western culture of the Judaeo-Christian concept of the human being as having dominion over the rest of creation. In this book, Douglas John Hall does not attempt to exonerate historical Christianity from that charge. But, he argues, confession alone is not enough. The crisis of nature forces us to rethink our whole understanding of the relation between humanity and nature - an understanding that is based on the concept that human beings are created in the image of God ('imago Dei'). Hall carefully examines the biblical, historical, and theological meanings of this term, which, more than any other biblical expression, became Christianity's symbolic way of designating the essence of the human. Hall argues that the image of God is not an endowment - it is not something that human beings have; rather, it is a quality that pertains to our relationship with God. We should think of 'imago' as a verb, not a noun, he says. The human vocation within the created order is to image the Creator. When this is applied in a consistent and serious way, the idea of human dominion over all of nature must be radically reinterpreted. Taking the Lordship of Jesus as an authentic model for understanding our human relation to the natural order means that dominion is expressed not as mastery but as service - sacrificial service of the others with and for whom one is responsible. Thus the concept of dominion as stewardship eschews any idea of ownership or superiority in relation to nature, yet assumes a special accountability for its welfare. A provocative and original work, Hall's book retains the biblical centrality of 'homo sapiens' while at the same time raising both nature and God to a new kind of prominence in the dialogue that is life.

Do you wonder about who God really is? Are you seeking real answers to the creation of the universe? This book is a must read for those wishing to really understand the whole Biblical creation and evolution argument; and wishing to see revealed the God-Designed and God-Created Universe.Steeped in 2000 years of solid Christian Orthodoxy, this book is not "New Age" or some other cultic mish-mash. The purpose of this book is to present a different way of viewing the world and the universe, and to encounter this wonderful loving gracious God of the universe, the I Am, the Great Creator God.Have you ever expressed any of the following questions: How did the universe start? How will the universe end? What existed before the stars? Does your life have any meaning? Does God know me and care for me? What was God's first gift to the world? Is God still involved with both Mankind and Creation? Can you believe in the Big Bang and still be a Christian? Find answers in the book, I Am, the Great Creator God.The reason this book is different from the others that search for truth, or deal with theology & cosmology, is that I Am, the Great Creator God shows you how to look differently at the world and universe around you. The answers to your questions, the questions that tear apart religious denominations, and the questions of the ages are truly right in front of you.At one time many scientists were inspired by God's creation and attributed the fixed natural laws to the Creator. The Bible was inspiration and guided them under a set of ethical standards into life's major questions and search for knowledge. Now, to raise Biblical points, embrace a Christian worldview and its teachings, a Christian is ridiculed and dismissed as ignorant by a very large portion of scientists. This new book, I Am, the Great Creator God, has the opportunity to bring the Christian and the scientists closer together.