Lesson 39 –
Creation Through God's Power

The first aspect of God’s creation—that it comes about through divine power—is communicated in both creation accounts and allusions to creation throughout the Bible. Yet, this power is not described abstractly with terms like “omnipotence” as we might be accustomed to do. Instead, the authors of the Bible rely on mythic cosmic imagery to depict God as a divine warrior fighting against and conquering forces of evil and chaos—often as embodied by primordial, supernatural monsters.

Course Reading

On the Literal Meaning of Genesis, bk. 1, c. 19 | St. Augustine

Summa Theologiae I, q. 74, a. 2 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from the Summa Theologiae I, q. 74, a. 2, ad. 2:

All things were not distinguished and adorned together, not from a want of power on God's part, as requiring time in which to work, but that due order might be observed in the instituting of the world. Hence it was fitting that different days should be assigned to the different states of the world, as each succeeding work added to the world a fresh state of perfection.

Course Listening

The Bible And The Euthyphro Problem | Prof. Michael Gorman