Summary chapter 6

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+\setcounter{section}{5}
+\section{The world as creation}
+\begin{description}
+	\item[Old Testament] The prophets, writing against the background of the
+		exile, wonder if the Babylonian gods were stronger than Yahweh. The answer
+		is that Yahweh is the God of all the earth (Is.~44:6--24; Jer.~10:1--16).
+		Also Gn.~1:1--2:3 is from this period; it declares God King of all creation
+		and dethrones common other gods, like sun and moon. The idea of God as
+		\index{God!Creator}Creator King resonates through the OT, e.g. in Ps.~8;
+		33; 104; 139 and Job~38--41.
+
+		In this setting, creation is the proper place of the God--world relation.
+		Humanity plays a key role, being created in the \index{God!Imago Dei}image
+		of God.
+		
+	\item[New Testament] The NT introduces Christ as mediator of creation
+		(1~Cor.~8:6; Col.~1:16): creation has its basis and goal in Him.
+
+		The promise to Abraham of a good and wide land has been universalised to
+		the whole earth, and analogously the good news is available to all
+		(Rev.~5:9).
+
+		While the OT talks about the promise of land, the NT puts more emphasis on
+		\index{Creation!New}\emph{new} creation. In Christian theology, the
+		`earthy' OT is sometimes forgotten, but it should not be: the NT
+		presupposes the OT's emphasis on a good material creation.
+\end{description}
+
+\index{Gnosticism}Gnostics, pure dualists, believed that the material world is
+a mis-creation of a lesser divine being, typically called
+\index{Demiurge}\emph{Demiurge} and associated with the OT God. Spiritual souls
+have fallen into that world and should be freed. To this end, the true,
+spiritual God descends into the world (like unto Jesus) to reveal the
+\emph{gnosis}, special knowledge, of the origin of these souls. They may then
+begin to ascend to the spiritual realm.
+
+\index{Irenaeus}Irenaeus of Lyon counters this position: \index{Creation!Ex
+nihilo}creatio ex nihilo was a free act of an omnipotent God, but also had a
+good product because that God is benevolent.
+
+While gnosticism was early condemned, its ideas have influenced Christian
+theology nevertheless, for example in the idea of a good heaven.
+
+\medskip
+Interestingly, it were the implications of Christian criticism on Greek
+creation ideas\footnote{Nature is (1) contingent (divine will); (2) good (a
+good God); (3) orderly (a wise God); and (4) its flourishing is a cooperative
+endeavour of God and humanity (humanity, created in God's image, has
+responsibility).} that in the end gave rise to \index{Science}science and the
+\index{Evolution}evolution theory. Although at first not enthusiastic, by the
+twentieth century much of mainstream Christianity had reconciled itself to the
+possibility of evolutionary process as the means by which God created life.
+
+\subsubsection*{Implications of \emph{creatio ex nihilo}}
+\begin{itemize}
+	\item God is the source of all that there is. The biblical basis of this is
+		slim, since Genesis 1 presupposes the primeval watery chaos. We can
+		consider Rom.~4:17 and Heb.~11:3 though.
+	\item What is eternal, is also divine, and vice versa, thus excluding
+		\index{Dualism}dualism.
+	\item Creatures are dependent, yet real and good, thus excluding
+		\index{Monism}monism (the idea that only one thing possesses reality).
+	\item God creates in freedom: He didn't \emph{need} to create the world.
+	\item God created with purpose: creation is meaningful.
+	\item God is \index{Transcendence}transcendent and \index{Immanence}immanent.
+	\item God is not a creature. It is not contingent but necessary, and
+		self-sufficient. Since God is not a creature, faith transcends reason.
+\end{itemize}