Thus the Lord Himself is called “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” “by whom all things were made, and without whom not even one thing was made.” God’s resting is not, then, as some conceive, that God ceased from doing. For, being good, if He should ever cease from doing good, then would He cease from being God, which it is sacrilege even to say. The resting is, therefore, the ordering that the order of created things should be preserved inviolate, and that each of the creatures should cease from the ancient disorder.
(Stromata, Bk 6, Ch. 16)
From here, Clement continues on with an argument for the "orders of creation." This is a theological construct which troubles us at the Egg. For one thing, it was beloved of the Nazis; but even in Clement, it posits that some created things are less "worthy" to their Creator than others. This may be true, but -- if so -- it does not seem to us to flow necessarily from the days of creation. (On the other had, watch a real theologian deal with the matter.)
But that sentence in red is worth remembering.
2 comments:
Which sentence(s) do you highlight in the Braaten essay?
None in particular, just the fact that Braaten tries to do something responsible with what I am otherwise inclined to write off as a bad theological locus.
Post a Comment