When I was younger I attempted to read Stephen Hawking’s outrageously titled book, A Brief History of Time. I guess part of what attracted me to it was its spectacular-seeming claim to both brevity and a (Promethean) exhaustiveness.
At risk of repeating such a futile gesture, I want to develop — in outline — a brief theology of nature according to Scripture. Central to which is the question of what creation is for — its purpose or telos.
In this context, Michael Hill’s distinction between historical teleology and natural teleology is worth bearing in mind (The How And Why Of Love, p 28:
[T]eleological theories in ethics locate the telos by looking at the nature or the design. For obvious reasons this type of teleology is call natural teleology. By way of contrast, we may set ourselves goals (teloi) in our lives. These would be goals that we would strive to reach in the future. This type of teleology is called historical teleology.
There is undoubted value to this. But the danger is that when it comes to thinking about creation’s purpose and design, we end up casting around for what seems ‘natural’ and obvious — which may be cultural or even downright sinful — and treat it as what God intended. This can be disastrous (as the ‘naturalisation’ of Volk prejudice by the established Church in Nazi Germany attests).
We mustn’t pit God’s ultimate intentions (historical teleology) against His original intentions (natural teleology) — as though Creator and creation were opposed! But we do need to recognise that when God graciously brings about creation’s consummation, He does so in a profoundly wrenching way, showing us that so much of what seems natural and obvious is actually distortion (e.g., Jesus’ correction of His disciples’ assumption that power brings privilege in Mark 10.41-45).
In short, an adequate theology of nature will be thoroughly apocalyptic.
[To be continued…]
