Ian McFarland: From Nothing
Ian McFarland, From Nothing: A Theology of Creation (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 212 pages.
In the recent work, From Nothing: A Theology of Creation, Ian McFarland aims to defend and develop the classic doctrine of creation ex nihilo by arguing that the doctrine of creation from nothing is best understood in a Trinitarian framework. The author asserts that God alone is uncreated and that all creatures outside of Him find their existence in Him. Further, through Jesus, the incarnate Logos, all of creation has been drawn into the life and love of the Trinity.
This work is primarily ordered around two main parts, “Exitus” (chapters 2-4) and “Reditus” (chapters 5-7), but also includes a considerable introductory chapter (chapter 1) and a brief conclusion (chapter 8). The argument he asserts in support of his position begins in his first chapter through surveying exegetical, historical, and contemporary issues relevant to the Christian doctrine of creation. McFarland explains that the doctrine of creation from nothing is essential to agree with Scripture’s assertion that there is one God who is the lone source of all things. Further, the author concludes that examining what God does is inseparable from knowing who God, which has implications for the doctrine of creation. For this reason, Christians cannot talk about creation apart from Christology. Thus, for McFarland, Christology is central for a doctrine of creation as it guarantees that God’s power is not understand as totalitarianism or whim (p. 23).
McFarland then turns to the first part of the book, focusing on the claim that the world is embedded in the life of God. Taking from the statement, “God creates from nothing”, in part 1 McFarland constructs his first three chapters exploring “God”, “Creates”, and “Nothing”. In chapter 2, God is characterized as transcendent, living, productive, and present. These attributes all function within the understanding that God is ultimately defined by the love shared relationally between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, this framework makes it fitting that God should create, “since creation is simply the act by which God, who is already intrinsically living, productive, and present, determines also to be living, productive, and present to that which is not divine” (p. 57). This leads to the third chapter where the author affirms on the one hand that creatures reflect the Logos, but are on the other hand entirely distinct from it. McFarland argues for the seemingly incongruous notion that finite creatures are utterly dependent on and yet not less thoroughly discontinuous with God by stating that the unity of creation can only be established in the Logos, thus God not only created the world, but created it from nothing. Chapter 4 then builds on this idea by way of the doctrine of the incarnation. For McFarland, the incarnation is the “definitive exemplification” (107) of the principle that nothing limits God, and is the key to a Christian understanding of creation from nothing. Through the incarnation, God has chosen to include creation within God’s own life and through extension, the works of redemption and glorification.
The task of the second part of the book is to look at the context within which creation is drawn to perfection in the love it was created in by showing how successes and failures experienced now form Christian hope for glorification of creation. Consequently, McFarland moves on to show how “God is also the world’s goal and end” (p. xiii) by investigating the subjects of evil, providence and glory. In chapter 5,the author shows that evil is in no way something God allows in an effort to help some realize some greater good; “evil is that which God is always in the process of disallowing by the very act of holding creatures in being” (p. 134). Further, despite the reality of evil, it cannot defeat God’s ultimate will for creatures flourishing. The author explores this enduring aspect of God’s work with creatures through an explanation of the doctrine of providence (chapter 6). McFarland puts forth three categories to describe God’s providential activity: conservatio (preservation), concursus (accompaniment), and gubernatio (direction). His aim is to strike a balance between both divine sovereignty and creaturely activity, in an attempt to avoid determinism. God provides for creation so that it may come to its eschatological goal, but this provision does not advance creatures towards glory by itself.
Chapter 7 then turns to discuss the topic of glory as distinct from the doctrine of creation, yet related, for “The point of glory is not to negate the present form of creation but to perfect it” (180). Further, McFarland emphasizes the central place the Eucharist has to play as a foretaste of the Kingdom to come.
Lastly, in chapter 8, McFarland briefly surveys his main points throughout the book, and emphasizes the importance the doctrine of creation from nothing is to the church: “In short, creation from nothing dictates that everything is of immediate concern to God insofar as it exists at all, and what is of concern to God cannot be a matter of indifference to us who are called to life in communion with God” (p. 185). Therefore, his conclusion not only is theoretical, but practical in nature.
In sum, the author’s aim, to defend and develop the classic doctrine of creation ex nihilo, was accomplished well overall. In my estimation, the author contributed a concise yet carefully thorough work on the doctrine of creation from nothing. This book serves as an important, contemporary piece providing a way to seriously engage a theology of creation without falling prey to process theology. Although McFarland’s book is succinct, the reading is quite demanding. Thus, non-academic readers will find McFarland’s work to be especially strenuous. Nevertheless, those who labor will find reward, for this work is both rich and robust.
Reviewed by Andrew Ray Williams
Publisher’s page: http://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/066423819X/from-nothing.aspx
