Thinking through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique

by Christopher Watkin

Publisher:

P&R

, 2017

Overview

Reading Genesis 1 and 2, we are tempted to see only problems to solve. Yet these two chapters burst with glorious truths about God, our world, and ourselves. In fact, their foundational doctrines are among the richest sources of insight as we pursue robust, sensitive, and constructive engagement with others about the contemporary culture and ideas.

With deftness and clarity, Christopher Watkin reclaims the Trinity and creation from their cultural despisers and shows how they speak into, question, and reorient some of today's most important debates.

Key Features

• Explores the intersection between theology and culture from the perspective of Genesis 1-2
• Accessible to both laypeople, scholars and students
• Includes detailed and highly useful bibliographies and indexes

Contents

• Introduction
  • Listening to the Word
  • Listening to the World
  • The Trinity and Creation from Embarrassment to Riches
• Who Created? Thinking through the Trinity
• Thinking through the Creation of the Universe
• Thinking through the Creation of Humanity
• Conclusion
  • Explaining the Bible to the Culture; Explaining the Culture through the Bible
  • Biblical and Cultural Patterns
  • Beyond the Trinity and Creation
  • Now Over to You

Praise for the Print Edition

If theology is the application of God’s Word to all areas of life, then we have to understand not only Scripture but the world in which we live and move and have our being. Cultural studies are all the rage in secular universities, but Chris Watkin here sketches the contours of a distinctly biblical and Christian theory for interpreting our contemporary culture with theological categories, such as Trinity and creation, doing the heavy lifting. W

—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“This is one of the most refreshing books I have read in a long time. With deceptive simplicity, Watkin defends exegetical, theological, and philosophical verities that are much needed in today’s discussions. Rather than being embarrassed by Christian doctrines such as creation ex nihilo, the Trinity, and the Sabbath, he sees them as unique strengths in the quest for truth.

—William Edgar, professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia

This learned, beautifully written, theologically infused, and highly evocative work provides all of us in the academy—students and senior faculty alike—with a creative theological armory that reflects the glory of our Creator God and can transform our scholarship. The book is readily accessible to any thoughtful student or professor, complete with aids to understanding difficult issues, study questions, and a rich bibliography. Watkin’s deep insights carry rich value far beyond the social sciences and humanities to every corner of the twenty-first-century university.

——Terence Halliday, Co-Director and Research Professor, American Bar Foundation; Honorary Professor, Australian National University; Adjunct Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University

Product Details

• Title: Thinking through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique
• Author: Christopher Watkin
• Publisher: P&R
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 192
• Christian Group: Reformed
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Biblical Theology

About Christopher Watkin

Christopher Watkin (PhD, University of Cambridge) is senior lecturer in French studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He a scholar with an international reputation in the area of modern and contemporary European thought, atheism, and the relationship between the Bible and philosophy. His published work runs the spectrum from academic monographs on contemporary philosophy to books written for general readers, both Christian and secular, and include Difficult Atheism, From Plato to Postmodernism, Great Thinkers: Jacques Derrida, and others.