Participating in God: Creation and Trinity

by Samuel M. Powell

In this exciting work, Samuel Powell offers a new constructive and systematic vision of creation by interpreting it in terms of contemporary science and trinitarian theology. Powell's work unfolds in three stages, building on the multiple ways the doctrine of creation actually functions for Christians. He first analyzes its regulative dimension. Even in all the multiplicity of historical Christianity, he shows, the doctrine commits Christians to a particular set of normative beliefs about the world and God's relation to it. Second, Powell builds on the doctrine's hermeneutical potential. It allows Christians both to interpret the meaning of creation in terms of other prevalent philosophical, religious, or scientific ideas and also to interpret the world, as disclosed by scientific theory, in theological terms. In the heart of his book, Powell correlates creaturely characteristics with their participation in God through the trinitarian persons. Finally, in light of his findings, Powell drives home the often ignored ethical dimension of the doctrine, especially in relation to the environment, our consumerist lifestyle, and eschatology. Powell's bold proposal harvests from two of the most fruitful fields of recent theology - trinitarian theory and religion-and-science - and crafts a creative new vision of how we and all creation participate in the life and work of the triune God.

Genres: Theology, Science

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2003

About the author

Here’s my official, academically heavy, biography–the sort of thing that publishers ask for.

Samuel M. Powell has taught at Point Loma Nazarene University since 1986. He is the editor (with Michael Lodahl) of Embodied Holiness (originally published by InterVarsity Press, 1999, now reprinted by Wipf & Stock), and the author of The Trinity in German Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2001), Participating in God (Fortress Press, 2003), A Theology of Christian Spirituality (Abingdon Press, 2005), Discovering Our Christian Faith (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2008), and several smaller monographs. He graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University, Nazarene Theological Seminary and Claremont Graduate University and is an ordained deacon in the Church of the Nazarene. He served as secretary-treasurer of the Wesleyan Theological Society and is a member of the editorial committee of Kingswood Press. From 1999 to 2001 he participated in the John Templeton Foundation Oxford Seminars on Science and Christianity. In 2005 he won the Wesleyan Theological Society’s Smith-Wynkoop award for his book, Participating In God: Creation and Trinity. The award recognizes recent publication of distinction in a research area related to the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition. Powell attends Mission Church of the Nazarene, where he teaches an adult Sunday School class. He lives in Santee, California with his wife, Terrie. He has two children and four grandchildren.

Reviews

[Sheri-lee]

I’m not sure how to rate this book because I’m not smart enough.

It was a real slog at points talking about quarks and all kinds of things I don’t know near enough about. I had difficulty finding how his topics were relating to the Trinity sometimes. He could be pulling the wool over my eyes, but he sounds very smart.

I did appreciate his insistence on context for when the Bible was written and how our interpretation of it will change as new ideas, science, and knowledge emerge. I like that he sees science and religion as compatible. I would be interested to know how sound other theologians and scientists see this work — people with a much more thorough understanding of these fields.

[Brook Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 9 is excellent