The European Society for Catholic Theology’s international congress, held at Trinity College Dublin last week, opened with a keynote lecture from Prof. Janet Martin Soskice, Emeritus Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge. In her address, titled ‘Have We Forgotten God the Creator?’, Prof. Soskice urged theologians to recover a deeper understanding of the Christian doctrine of creation as central to both faith and contemporary challenges.
Drawing on the Nicene Creed, now in its 1,700th year, she noted that belief in “one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth” has too often been neglected in modern theology. She cited Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Pope Benedict XVI, both of whom lamented the near disappearance of creation theology in the last century, with damaging effects on Christian apologetics and the doctrine of God.
Prof. Soskice argued that public debate frequently misunderstands creation theology as little more than a literal reading of Genesis. Critics have accused Christianity of justifying exploitation of the environment and subordinating human dignity. Yet, she said, the classical teaching of creatio ex nihilo—that God freely creates all things out of nothing and continuously sustains them—offers a richer, non-anthropocentric vision in which all creation is gift, held in being by divine love.
She pointed to the ecological crisis and recent moves within global Christianity, including a Vatican-sponsored colloquium in Assisi and the introduction of a Mass for the Care of Creation, as evidence of renewed attention to creation. However, she warned that ecological awareness must not obscure the deeper theological truth: that God’s act of creation undergirds Christian belief in providence, prayer, miracles, and salvation.
“If we forget God the Creator,” Prof. Soskice concluded, “our doctrine of God becomes too small, and much of the Christian message implausible.”
