TH 460 Topics in Theology Gods Good World Review Essay Box 4978 In leading discussion groups that help

students navigate through an introductory Bible survey class, I am shocked with the amount of students who are frightened by the thought that their professors are slipping into heresy by downplaying the literal reading of the first two chapters of Genesis to consider the larger narrative of the Bible as a whole. Jonathan R. Wilson in the timely writing, Gods Good World, seeks to refocus the doctrine of creation on the work of the one God Father, Son and Spirit in His creation for His creatures. This essay seeks to summarize Wilsons work and contribute to the academic conversation by reflecting on the kingdom that Jesus inaugurated in an attempt to help us come to an ethical understanding of how to live rightly in creation. In summary, part one of Wilsons, Gods Good World, seeks to remap our doctrine of creation which provides a framework to encompass our thinking, living, and witness as followers of Christ.1 In remapping the doctrine of creation Wilson critiques the church, academy, and society as deficient in understanding the doctrine of creation, the work of God in Jesus Christ to create and redeem the fallen world. In Part two, Wilson constructs a proper doctrine of creation based on the dialectic of the kingdom and the proper function and role of the one God Father, Son and Holy Spirit in creation. He explains and tests his doctrine of creation with evidence in creation and the narrative of scripture. In the third part of the book, Wilson seeks to give short reflections on areas where the doctrine can take soil in our lives.2 Wilson accomplishes his goal by refocusing the doctrine of creation on Christ and his redemption for creation and his ability to inspire his readers to come to the right questions, so that communities under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can participate in the new creation of the coming eschatological kingdom of God. The usage of an obscure term such as dialectic of the kingdom is used in Wilsons writing to safeguard the reader from falling into old schools of thought in dealing with the kingdom and to provide
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Jonathan R. Wilson, Gods Good World, xii. Jonathan R. Wilson, Gods Good World, xiii.

TH 460 Topics in Theology Gods Good World Review Essay Box 4978 specific grammar to better communicate the meaning of kingdom. By dialectic, Wilson is referring to two works of God, creation and redemption, which cannot be faithfully understood separately. By Kingdom, Wilson is using the term in continuation with the image Jesus used to bring the good news into focus, namely Gods redemption of the world.3 When creation and redemption are understood as inseparable to Jesus understanding of kingdom, we realize that humanity has been created for a purpose, and that purpose is most clearly seen in creation before the fall. Redemption in Christ frees us from slavery to the effects of the fall allows us to start practicing the virtue and ethics of the new creation here and now.4 We can only know how to live ethically in creation through Jesus affirmation of creation through his life death and resurrection. The formation of any ethic must start with Jesus, and come to an understanding of how Jesus saw his ministry on Earth. To do this, N. T. Wrights insight is helpful from, After you Believe, on the Sermon on the Mount. The larger truth contained in the Sermon on the Mount is, Gods future is arriving in the present, in the person and work of Jesus and you can practice, right now, the habits of life which will find their goal in that coming future.5 In this reality, when we place our lives and hope in Christ, we remain in this fallen world; yet, become new creatures that have the authority and power to be redeemed and participate in Gods redemption of the world. By living out our created purpose in the newness of life in Christ, we find our sanctification and justification. Sanctification reminds us of the kind of journey we must take to make the story of Jesus our own. Our justification as a reminder of what God has done by providing a path to follow.6 In the

Jonathan R. Wilson, Gods Good World, 51. N. T. Wright, After you Believe, 103. N. T. Wright, After you Believe, 103. Stanley Hauerwas, The Hauerwas Reader, 140.

TH 460 Topics in Theology Gods Good World Review Essay Box 4978 danger of viewing Jesus as simply a moral teacher, Wilson stresses, The corruption and decay of the old world and the old human heart, the habits and patterns of thought, imagination, and life, had to be not just reformed, but killed.7 Its only inn and through Jesus death and resurrection that we can see that the way things are in this broken world are not the way it will always be. In faith, we can live with eschatological authenticity in humility, meekness, mercy, purity, and as peacemakers which indicate signs of life, the language of life, the life of new creation, the life of new covenant, the life which Jesus came to bring.8 In living an ethical life our participation in the creation and redemption will be woven into the new eschatological kingdom.9 Our ethical participation in the world will not bring the coming kingdom nor cease with the passing away of this fallen world for, He is our master and from Him we learn the skills to live faithfully to the fact that this is Gods world and we are Gods creatures.10 In anticipation of this coming kingdom and the brokenness of this world, we can only pray with the saints throughout the centuries, come Lord Jesus, come.

Written by: Eric Wuest

N. T. Wright, After you Believe, 116. N. T. Wright, After you Believe, 105-106. Jonathan R. Wilson, Gods Good World, 67. Stanley Hauerwas, The Hauerwas Reader, 141.

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TH 460 Topics in Theology Gods Good World Review Essay Box 4978 Bibliography Hauerwas, Stanley. The Hauerwas Reader. Edited by John Berkman and Michael Cartwright. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2001. Wilson, Jonathan R. God's Good World: Reclaiming the Doctrine of Creation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Wright, N.T. After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. New York: HarperOne, 2010.