rich w
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12:14:27 pm on March 30, 2009 | # |
I guess i’m trying to balance in my mind:
God: inventing the concepts of time, space, matter and life (creation)
Vs
Me: scribbling on a piece of paper or writing a little song about girls (creation?)I’m not trying to say human creativity isn’t important or god-infused, i’m just wondering if we overstate it sometimes. After all, isn’t human creativity just a new combination of things that already existed before in a new/surprising way?
What do people think?
Steve 11:07 pm on 30 March, 2009 | # |
My two cents…
I think that God’s creativity is mediated through things. For example, it is mediated through naturalistic processes such as evolution and procreation, but also through the activity of creation – including human creativity. In fact, I think I see human creativity as totally central to the idea of the kingdom of God. I’m using both ‘creativity’ and ‘the Kingdom of God’ in a broad sense- e.g. working out how to reduce poverty, creating a vaccine, designing a building, writing a poem, scribbling on a piece of paper; all these manifest God’s creativity. Perhaps the exception to this is when it is actually destructive or damaging.
So, in answer to your question, I think we understate it. Especially the Protestant tradition.
rich w 8:48 am on 31 March, 2009 | # |
good well made points
…hmmmm… i think ive managed to mis-explain myself.
im not saying “creativity” isnt important or amazing or god-breathed or the reason we progress or magical or amazing. I think it is all those things. I just dont think creativity is actually creation. I mean. We dont create anything that wasnt there before. We itterate, we edge forwards, we connect old things differently, but we dont create.
Maybe im just barking up the wrong tree with semantic nonsense. Which im ok to admit. I quite like doing that.