Creation, Grace, and Redemption

by Neil Ormerod

Overview

About the Author:
Neil Ormerod is head of the theology faculty at the St. Mary Campus of the Australian Catholic University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570757051
Publisher:	Orbis Books
Publication date:	03/20/2007
Series:	Theology in Global Perspective Series
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword   Peter C. Phan     xi
Preface     xiii
The God of Creation     1
Creation ex nihilo     3
Creation ex divino     6
Creation by Emanation     7
Dualist Accounts of Creation     8
Process Accounts of God and Creation     9
Providence, Creation, and Contingency     10
The Problem of Evil and Suffering     13
Perspectives from Other Religions     18
Conclusion     21
Questions for Reflection     22
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     22
Human Beings within God's Creation     23
The Specialness of Life in the Cosmos     23
Evolution and the Creation of Human Beings     27
Spirit and Matter     30
Human Existence as Social and Historical     34
"Male and Female God Created Them"     36
"Subdue the Earth"     41
A Brief Look at Buddhist Anthropology     42
Conclusion     44
Questions for Reflection     44
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     44
The Structure of Moral Evil     46
Evil and Personal Sin     47
Sin as Social and Cultural     50
Liberation Theology and Social Sin     53
Feminist Theology and the Critique of Patriarchy     56
The Dialectic of Transcendence and Limitation     60
Other Religious Traditions and the Problem of Evil     65
Conclusion     66
Questions for Reflection     66
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     67
Original Sin     68
Brief History of the Doctrine of Original Sin     68
Contemporary Reflection on Original Sin     77
Original Sin as Our Universal Victimhood     79
The Voice of Original Sin-The Satan     84
Original Sin and Other Religious Worldviews     87
Conclusion     88
Questions for Reflection     89
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     89
Jesus and the Story of Redemption     90
The New Testament Witness     90
Early Church Images for Redemption     93
The Beginnings of System in the Middle Ages     97
Modern Accounts-The Insights of Rene Girard     102
The Two Discourses of Sacrifice     104
Do Other Religions Have Saviors?     107
Conclusion      108
Questions for Reflection     108
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     108
Grace and the Supernatural     109
Grace as Healing     109
The Grace/Sin Dialectic     111
The Grace/Nature Distinction     113
The Natural Desire to See God     116
Can We Experience Grace?     123
Providence and Predestination     125
Some Practical Insights into the Life of Grace     127
Some Recent Ecumenical Considerations     129
Grace or Enlightenment?     130
Conclusion     131
Questions for Reflection     132
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     132
Church and Sacrament     133
Church-The Religious Dimension     133
Church-The Moral Dimension     135
Church-The Social Dimension     141
Church and Eucharist     143
Religious and Moral Dimension     145
The Cultural Dimension of Eucharist     147
The Social Dimension of Eucharist     149
Conclusion     151
Questions for Reflection     151
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     152
Forgiveness and Reconciliation      153
Forgiveness and the Individual     154
Social and Political Dimensions of Reconciliation     158
Historical Violence and the Purification of Memory     161
Reconciliation and the Work of Jesus     164
Conclusion     172
Questions for Reflection     173
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     173
Death and the Afterlife     174
Life after Death     174
The Platonic Conception of Soul     176
The Aristotelian Conception of Soul     177
Death and Sin     178
Death and Judgment     182
Heaven and the Beatific Vision     182
Hell and Punishment     185
Purgatory-A Catholic Thing     190
Afterlife in Other Traditions     193
Conclusion     194
Questions for Reflection     195
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     195
The End of All Things     196
Traditional Eschatology     196
End of History, End of Cosmos?     198
The Resurrection of the Dead     200
Cosmic Eschatology     204
The Resurrection of Jesus-What Does It Teach Us?     205
Final Judgment     210
Questions for Reflection     215
Suggestions for Further Reading and Study     215
Bibliography     216
Index     222