Concept of God as Creator

• Ex Nihilo VS Ex Deo
• Characteristics of the classical theistic God-
• Genesis 1
• Genesis 2
• Westermann
• Genesis 3
• Psalms
• Judaeo Christian God compared to Greek
• Job

• Two different views-
  • Ex Nihilo= Created out of nothing
  • Ex Deo= Created out of God
• According to the bible God is responsible for bringing the universe into existence
• Everything that exists owes its existence to God the universe is seen as set apart from God, God is not ‘nature itself’- God is transcendent over his creation
• Characteristics of the classical theistic God-
  • Omni benevolent
  • Omniscient
  • Omnipotent
  • Transcendent
  • Immanent

• Written by priests as a poem/ hymn (different verse for each day)
• Purpose= to display God’s power and counter views put forward by other creation stories- divine commands
• Similar to the Babylon creation story
• Liberals believe written when Jewish people held in exile in Babylon to keep up morale however Conservatives suggest written before the exile
• God is seen as imposing order through effortless creativity
• God created everything out of nothing (creation ex nihilo)
• Each day is written using the repeated phrase ‘God said, let there be…and so it was’:
  • Day 1= light and dark
  • Day 3= vegetation
  • Day4= stars and moon
  • Day 6= humans (in the image of God rule and dominate)
• God is transcendent in Genesis 1

• Continuous prose narrative
• Unknown who, why, when and where
• Older myth
• Suggests the world was set up around people for our use
• Complements first account- Henry Morris
• Mythical- Adam= humanity/Eve= life, the serpant
• God forms man from the dust of the ground and forms Eve out of his rib to accompany him
• Picture given here of God is anthropomorphic (human characteristics) eg breath
• 2 trees:
  • Tree of life
  • Tree of knowledge of good and evil
• Show from the outset humanity was given responsibility to choose whether to live under the authority of God or be more autonomous
• Both creation myths created to demonstrate God as transcendent and immanent

• The creation narratives are vital for the whole relationship between God and humanity
• Different traditions in different parts of the world seem to share common themes (this is why Christianity’s creation story sounds similar to Babylons)

• The fall
• Mythical story
• Serpent is introduced and tempts Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge (mythical feature)
• Adam then follows her example
• Their innocence disappears: they discover they are naked and cover themselves
• God presented anthropomorphically here as he is ‘walking in the garden’ and Adam and Eve can hear as he moves
• Adam and Eve try to hide as they feel guilt
• Pain and struggle for survival first comes into the world
• Adam names his wife here showing his authority over her
• God provides animal skins for Adam and eve (cares) expels them from the garden of evil

• Continues the idea of God as creator throughout the bible
• Psalm 8 God and man:
  • As he contemplates the great expanse of the universe the psalmist is overwhelmed by a sense of mans littleness
• Psalm 19 God’s wonderful creation; his perfect law:
  • The psalmist thought leaps straight from the sun, with all its pervading, searching rays to the law of God- pure and clean, bringing joy and wisdom, instruction and enlightenment to mans heart and to his own
• Psalm 65 Hymn of thanksgiving:
  • All praise to God who hears and forgives, who blesses and, satisfies and saves. Praise to God the creator and controller of the natural world
• Psalm 104 to God the great Creator:
  • The psalmist marvels at the grandeur and detail, the perfection and completeness of God’s work in creation

• Continues the idea of God as creator
• Job is a pious (very religious) and righteous man whom has a debate with friends about the problem of evil
• Author records in poetry
• Job and friends continue to argue until God intervenes
• Upon seeing God Job’s faith is restored
• Job 38-42:
  • ‘God is almighty, far and away above humanity. But he is also near. He hears, and he cares’
• Job 38+39:
  • ‘where was Job when God made the world, light and darkens, wind and rain, the constellations in their course?’
  • ‘what does Job know about the creatures of the world- the lion, the goat, the wild *** and the ox, the ostrich, the horse, the eagle? Did he make them? Can he feed them; tame them- as God can?’

• Biblical \god chooses what to make and what not to make but prime mover does not have intentions or make decisions because it’s unchanging
• God takes action in order to create but prime mover moves things by drawing them towards it
• God acts, in places, in a way that someone with a body would act but prime mover could not have any bodily form because it’s immaterial
• God is very much aware of the world but the prime mover knows only of itself and thinks only of itself, completely unaware of physical world
• Both considered responsible for the world

END