Table Of ContentCHRIST AS CREATOR
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Christ as Creator
Origins of a New Testament Doctrine
SEAN M. MCDONOUGH
1
3
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Preface
ThetopicofChristandcreationhasoccupiedmythinkingoneway
or another for the past decade. I had the opportunity to pull these
thoughts together during a sabbatical leave granted to me by Gor-
don-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2006–7. I am grateful to the
Trustees and administration for their generosity in offering the
sabbatical, and to my colleagues for covering my course load in my
absence. The research was carried out at St Mary’s College in the
Universityof St Andrews in Scotland.My thanks to all thestaff and
studentsofStMary’s(particularly myassociatesintheBlackroom)
whose hospitality made the year so delightful for myself and my
family.
Special thanks to Richard Bauckham, who supported this project
throughout and commented extensively on the manuscript, and to
LarryHurtado,whoofferedmanycriticalinsightsonmyargument.
The research would have been impossible without the assistance of
theinvaluableJamesDarlack,referencelibrarianatGordon-Conwell,
with assistance from Christopher Weaver. I am equally indebted to
my research assistant, Elisa Stern, for her painstaking labors in
preparing the manuscript, and to Elizabeth Robottom of Oxford
University Press for her continual help throughout the publishing
process.
Mygreatestdebtsaretomyfamily,whosesupportmademylabor
possible: my parents and siblings, my children, Siobhan, Patrick,
Keanu, and Daniel, and above all my wife Ariana, without whose
helpnoneofthiswouldhavebeenpossible.
Finally, it is only fitting in introducing a book of this nature to
acknowledge that all our creative activity is in fact (to use Tolkien’s
term)subcreation; and so Iconclude with thanks to the God who is
‘overallandthroughallandinall’(Eph.4:6).
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Contents
ListofAbbreviations viii
1. Introduction 1
2. MemoriesofJesus:CreationintheGospels 16
3. CreationandMoralOrder 46
4. Creation:TheBeginningofMessianicDominion 65
5. OnlyConnect:CreationandMediationintheHellenistic
World 97
6. TheProblemofPhilo 135
7. ThroughWhom?MessianicandDemonicMediationin
1Corinthians8–10 150
8. OldDominion:CreationinColossians 172
9. ‘Inthebeginning,Lord...’:TheContributionofHebrews 192
10. UnioninLabor:CreationthroughtheSonintheGospel
ofJohn 212
11. JesusandGenesis:TentativeStepsTowardsTheology 235
Bibliography 262
AncientSourcesIndex 273
ModernAuthorsIndex 288
SubjectIndex 291
Abbreviations
GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS
1Q,2Q,3Q,etc. NumberedcavesofQumran
1QH 1QHodayoth(Thanksgiving)
BDAG WalterBauer,FrederickW.Danker,WilliamF.Arndt,
andF.WilburGingrich,AGreek–EnglishLexiconofthe
New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature,
3rd edn. (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press,
2001)
ESV Bible:EnglishStandardVersion
Exod.Rabb. ExodusRabbah
Gen.Rabb. GenesisRabbah
HALOT Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann
Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of
theOldTestament,trans,M.E.J.Richardson(Leiden:
Brill,Academic,2000)
Irenaeus
AH AdversusHaereses
Demonstration TheDemonstrationoftheApostolicPreaching
Josephus
Ap. ContraApionem
JustinMartyr
Apol.1–2 First/SecondApology
Dial. DialoguewithTrypho
KJV Bible:KingJamesVersion
LAB LiberAntiquitatumBiblicarum
LXX Septuagint
MT MasoreticText
NASB NewAmericanStandardBible
NIV Bible:NewInternationalVersion
NRSV Bible:NewRevisedStandardVersion
NT NewTestament
Abbreviations ix
Origen
Comm.inJoh. CommentariusinEvangeliumJohannis
OT OldTestament
RSV Bible:RevisedStandardVersion
Sanh. Sanhedrin
ShirShab SongoftheSabbathSacrifice
SVF Stoicorumveterumfragmenta
CLASSICALTEXTS
Aetius
Plac. Placitaphilosophorum
Aristotle
Met. Metaphysics
Cicero
Denat.deorum Denaturadeorum
Rep. OntheRepublic
DiogenesLaertius
Vit. Vitaeetsententiaephilosophorum
Eusebius
Praep.Ev. PraeparatioEvangelica
Hesiod
Theog. Theogony
Homer
Il. TheIliad
Od. TheOdyssey
Lucretius
Dererumnat. Dererumnatura
Ovid
Met. Metamorphoses
Philo
Abr. DeAbrahamo
Cher. DeCherubim
Conf. Deconfusionelinguarum
Description:This book examines the New Testament teaching that Christ was the one through whom God made the world. While scholars usually interpret this doctrine as arising from the equation of Jesus and the Wisdom of God, Sean McDonough argues that it had its roots in the church's memories of Jesus' miracles.
