Created Co-Creator

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Created Co-Creator


A dynamic theological anthropology with the concept of the created co-creator in its core is elaborated by theologian Philip Hefner: Humans are created by God to be co-creators in the creation that God has purposefully brought into being. The word created thus relates to being created by God as part of the evolutionary reality (a view sometimes criticised for demeaning humans understood as imago dei ). The word co-creator reflects the freedom of humans to participate in fulfilling God's purposes (a view sometimes criticised for super-elevating humans to the same level as God). The paradigm of the created co-creator is Jesus Christ who reveals that the essential reality of humans has never been outside God.


See also Evolution, Biological; Evolution, Human


Bibliography

hefner, philip. the human factor: evolution, culture, and religion. minneapolis, minn.: fortress press, 1993.

klein, ralph w. ed. philip hefner: created co-creator. currents in theology and mission 28, no. 34 (2001).

hubert meisinger