Saturday, 17 December 2016

5. The confusion of creature with Creator




Calvin uses some words from Aristotle to draw out the idea that human beings often confuse the created order with the Creator, who, of course is God himself.  Aristotle said that “the soul is inseparable from the body.  Calvin recognises that the soul operates far outside the functions which serve the body.   “Of what concern is it to the body that you measure the heavens?” he says.  Calvin considers certain characteristics of humans that are “signs of divinity in man”.  These include things held in the memory or the skill to devise incredible things and “marvellous devices”.  He criticises Vergil for suggesting that the universe was its own Creator rather than a “spectacle of God’s glory”.

How do you understand nature/ where do you see God at work? Or do you regard him as uninvolved in nature? Would you agree with Calvin that nature is the “order prescribed by God”?

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