Creation, Mission, and Knowing God, by John Flett

Professor John Flett recently published an essay titled “The Heavens Declare…’ (Psalm 14:1, 19:1): Creation, Mission, and the Embodied Knowing of God” in the new T&T Clark Handbook on the Doctrine of Creation.

Rev Prof John Flett – Pilgrim Theological College

In this essay, Flett (pictured) asks what we might know about God by looking at the natural world (creation) and what the implications of such an approach (natural theology) might be? He does this tracing its use by missionaries and in colonial theology. Flett writes:

‘Creation’ is an interpreted reality. It is contingent upon culture; culture provides the language, the aesthetic, and the interpretive frameworks to discover nature and draw conclusions about its reality. Creation as perceived directs human response. This is aptly demonstrated by the economic and colonial behaviours attached to the ideas of ‘dominion’ and ‘stewardship’ and the theological roots supporting hostility towards native peoples.

‘Creation’ is an interpreted reality. It is not a ‘universal’, something that is apprehended the same way across times and cultures.

This new volume is edited by University of Divinity colleague, Associate Professor Jason Goroncy and includes contributions by University of Divinity academics including, Vicky Balabanski (UCLT), Keith Dyer (Whitley), Nebojsa Tumara (SAC), Gordon Preece (Whitley) and Xiaoli Yang (Whitley).

For further details about the handbook, see the Bloomsbury page.