THE ‘SPIRIT’ AND THE ‘GROANING OF CREATION’ IN ROMANS 8 SEEN AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF MODERN SCIENCE
Abstract
Romans 8:19-22 is unique in its concern for the natural world. This is theologically significant at a time when ecological concerns have become inescapable and urgent. But this concern is packaged in an ‘apocalyptic’ eschatology that no longer seems plausible in modern times. This essay places the theology of Paul into the context of the Israelite-Jewish traditions, on which it draws, and Romans 8:19-22 into the context of Paul’s theology of the ‘Spirit’ as opposed to the ‘flesh’. Then it confronts Paul’s eschatology with modern scientific insight, and tries to reconceptualise its essential message in a way that could make sense to our scientifically informed contemporaries. The ‘age to come’ is a vision of comprehensive optimal well-being that orients the human ‘spirit’, that is, the structure of human consciousness, towards God’s benevolent intentionality. The divine ‘Spirit’ is the empowerment to participate in God’s creative and redemptive agency.Downloads
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