Title: Participatory Metaphysics and Creation Out of God

Abstract:
In Aristotle’s view, nothing comes from nothing (ex nihilo nihil fit). Both he and Plotinus thought, therefore, of the substratum (ὑποκείμενον) of matter as being eternal. Christian theology has consistently rejected this understanding of material causality through its teaching of creation out of nothing (ex nihilo). Theologians have parted ways, however, on how to understand the creator-creature relationship once eternal matter is rejected. The Augustinian-Thomist approach has rejected creation from God (de deo). This paper draws attention to an alternative tradition, that of Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor, which thinks of creation as both out of nothing (ἐκ τοῦ μή) and out of God (ἐκ θεοῦ). This paper argues that a genuinely participatory metaphysic requires the combination of creation ex nihilo and ex deo.

Speaker Bio:
Fr. Hans Boersma holds the St. Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin. He is the author of numerous books on retrieving the sacramental ontology of the Great Tradition, including Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition (Lexham, 2023); Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (IVP Academic, 2021); Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 2018); Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church (Baker Academic, 2017); and Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (Eerdmans, 2011). Fr. Boersma is an ordained priest within the Anglican Church in North America.

Video Link