The Task at Hand
Genesis 1:1
We will be taking a look at Genesis 1-2 through the work of two theologians, Michael Welker and Terence Fretheim, who have given considerable attention to this text. We shall seek to find out if and how kenosis fits into this text, and thus, if it is a legitimate way to understand God's activity of Creation.
Metaphors
Themes
Walter Brueggemann writes, �We are so familiar with these texts that we have reduced them to clich�s.� With this danger in mind, we shall seek to connect our understanding very carefully to the text of Genesis 1-2. Yet, this paper does not seek to be a comprehensive exegesis of these two chapters. There has been a large (and ever increasing) volume of scholarship devoted to understanding these creation accounts. Carefully reading the text and understanding the issues surrounding it is an important endeavor, but our focus here will be slightly different. We shall propose kenosis as a model for understanding God�s activity in creating, connecting our theological understandings to the text of Genesis 1-2 through the thought of Terence Fretheim, drawing as well on Michael Welker.
In understanding our task in the analysis of Genesis 1-2, we look to Welker, who asserts that traditional understandings of creation are guided by false abstractions. Welker acknowledges the presence of abstraction in theological thought, as well as the broad reach of these abstractions, and asserts that it is important to acknowledge and critique these abstractions, thus allowing them to be re-understood and reformulated in light of the biblical texts. In Creation and Reality, Welker �offers initial steps toward correcting both the classical theistic caricature of God the Creator and a corresponding religious understanding of �reality.� � For Welker, this task involves critique and reform of theological understandings, based on Scripture. Theology must recognize the diverse biblical traditions, and the tensions that exist within the biblical witness. Welker seeks to find and uplift commonalities within this diverse tradition, without dissolving differences, meaning he will end up with complex concepts and theological understandings.
Welker�s understanding of abstraction and the need for critique leads us to his insights on creation. For Welker, �A rereading of Genesis 1 and 2 shows the predominant conceptions of creation to be false abstractions.� Welker recognizes the themes of production, causation and dependence as the guiding abstractions that are traditionally connected to creation. �Over and over again it is assumed, wholly without hesitation, that this is the central insight of the Genesis creation texts.� Traditional understandings of creation, and of the Genesis 1 and 2 narratives have centered on God as creator and world and humans as created. God�s action has largely been understood as simple causation and production, while the Genesis accounts of creation provide a much deeper picture of what it means to be creator and creature, and how this creation came to be. As we seek to understand creation as kenosis, we shall focus on the accounts of Genesis 1-2, and propose kenosis as a model for divine action that departs from the traditional false abstractions, instead embracing a more complex understanding of God�s activity of creation which follows the landscape of the creation accounts.
The first step to understanding creation as kenosis is to establish the meaning of kenosis, and how it shall be used. Thus, we shall begin with a brief discussion of Philippians 2 and a look at kenosis in Christology. With this background information in place, we shall then focus our attention on the creation accounts of Genesis 1-2, through a discussion of the thought of Fretheim, drawing as well on the work of Michael Welker. Through this endeavor, we shall seek to uplift the consonance between their insights and the concept of kenosis in creation, and demonstrate that kenosis provides an adequate model for understanding the rich creation accounts of Genesis 1-2 and is helpful in describing God�s activity of creation. We shall then turn to the broad sweep of kenosis, and how it can be utilized to understand the nature of God�s relationship to the world.
