The Difference Nothing Makes: Creation, Christ, Contemplation

by Brian D Robinette

This book explores the doctrinal, social, and spiritual significance of a central yet insufficiently understood tenet in Christian creation “from nothing.” In this original study, Brian D. Robinette offers an extended meditation on the idea of creation out of nothing as it applies not only to the problem of God but also to questions of Christology, soteriology, and ecology. His basic argument is that creatio ex nihilo is not a speculative doctrine referring to cosmic origins but rather a foundational insight into the very nature of the God-world relation, one whose implications extend throughout the full spectrum of Christian imagination and practice. In this sense it serves a grammatical it gives orientation and scope to all Christian speech about the God-world relation. In part 1, Robinette takes up several objections to creatio ex nihilo and defends the doctrine as providing crucial insights into the gifted character of creation. Chapter two underscores the contemplative dimensions of a theological inquiry that proceeds by way of “unknowing.” Part 2 draws from the field of mimetic theory in order to explore the creative and destructive potential of human desire. Part 3 draws upon the Christian contemplative tradition to show how the “dark night of faith” is a spiritually patient and discerning way to engage the sense of divine absence that many experience in our post-religious, post-secular age. The final chapter highlights creatio ex nihilo as an expression of divine love―God’s love for finitude, for manifestation, for relationship. Throughout, Robinette engages with biblical, patristic, and contemporary theological and philosophical sources, including, among others, René Girard, Karl Rahner, and Sergius Bulgakov.

338 pages, Hardcover

Published February 15, 2023

Reviews

[Richard Woodhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book, though it is a challenge in places to fully understand all the points that Dr Robinette is making. I found his take on Rene Girards Mimetic theory to be very interesting. I'm not all in on this theory of Human cultural and Religious origins, but it makes some good points. Creation Ex Nihilo is not something that unaided Human reason would have ever come up with, in my opinion. It's a doctrine derived from Biblical Revelation. It makes sense to some degree once its unpacked via the Biblical and subsequent philosophical pondering of it, but ancient Greek thinkers really would not have guessed it, and they were pretty insightful Brainiacs. Robinettes prior book on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is worth reading as well. "Grammars of Resurrection" is a very in depth study of that important Christian belief, which came out in 2009 I think. This book is worth reading.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creatio ex nihilo + Girard, Bulgakov, Rahner + reflections on ecology, deep incarnation, etc.

Really very wonderful work. I will be returning to this.