Numa Verse

Systematic theologyWhat does it teach as a whole?

Creation and providence

What is creation and providence?

Creation and providence is the study of the Christian doctrine that God brought into being everything other than God without any pre-existing material, and that God keeps, accompanies and directs what God has made. It covers creation from nothing, the readings of Genesis 1 and 2, the parts of providence, divine sovereignty and human freedom, and evil and suffering.

  • 152Sources
  • 12Traditions
  • 16Dated entries
  • 15Minutes

Study v1.1, 27 October 2026

Creation and providence

At a glance

Why it matters for reading Scripture

How God made and sustains the world. The reading of Genesis 1 rests on it, and angels are studied under it as part of creation.

What the study found

Creation from nothing and God's continuing providence are held across the historic traditions; seven readings of Genesis 1 and 2 are not mutually exclusive, and the science dialogue in depth is left to study 26.

Where traditions divide

Traditions divide on how God's sovereignty relates to human freedom, eight positions from Thomist to open theism, on how to read the Genesis days, and on natural evil.

How the traditions compare

  • Roman Catholic Church

    The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) confesses God as the one who "by his almighty power at the beginning of time created from nothing both spiritual and corporeal creatures," and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "Creation is the common work of the Holy Trinity."

    The Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1909 left the meaning of yom open as "the subject of free discussion among exegetes," and the Catechism says that "Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine 'work'." Pius XII's Humani generis (1950) holds that the first eleven chapters of Genesis "pertain to history in a true sense."

    Sources1–5

  • Eastern Orthodox Church

    The Longer Catechism of Philaret of Moscow narrates that "In the beginning God created from nothing the heaven and the earth" and defines providence as "the constant energy of the almighty power, wisdom, and goodness of God."

    Kallistos Ware writes that "Creation is an act not so much of his free will as of his free love." No length for the days is binding: Fr Thomas Hopko's catechetical text speaks of "periods of time (perhaps millions of years, see 2 Pet 3.8)," while Jesse Dominick reports that the Fathers read the first day as 24 hours.

    Sources6–10

  • Oriental Orthodox churches

    Coptic teaching draws on Athanasius, who teaches that "out of nothing, and without its having any previous existence, God made the universe to exist through His word," and Pope Shenouda III writes that "The believer accepts the creation from nothing."

    The dogma page of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church holds that "Individuals as well as the entire historical process are ultimately under His control" and admits the fact of evil "both in the natural realm and in the moral realm." Paulos Mar Gregorios of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church held that "Humanity is redeemed with the created order, not from it."

    Sources11–14

  • Assyrian Church of the East

    Cor-Bishop George Toma writes that "God has created all heavens and earth all things in them from nothing for our benefits" and that "We rely on God's love and power for every breath we take."

    Narsai, as summarized by Elisa Perotti, holds that God could have created instantly but spread the work over six days so that the angels could learn gradually.

    Sources15–16

  • Lutheran churches

    Luther's Small Catechism confesses, "I believe that God has created me and all that exists," and the Large Catechism that "He daily preserves and defends us against all evil and misfortune."

    The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's Brief Statement of 1932 teaches creation "by His almighty creative word, and in six days" and rejects evolution, while its President Matthew C. Harrison writes that "the Synod has not defined as biblical doctrine a specific age of the earth." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Caring for Creation states no required reading of the days.

    Sources17–21

  • Reformed and Presbyterian churches

    The Heidelberg Catechism confesses the Father "who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them" and holds that health and sickness, riches and poverty come "not by chance but by his fatherly hand."

    The Westminster Larger Catechism says God made the world "of nothing," "within the space of six days, and all very good." Yet the Presbyterian Church in America in 2000 recognized that "a diversity of interpretations has existed in the PCA since its founding," and the majority of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's committee judged in 2004 that none of five views necessarily denies the integrity of the Westminster Standards.

    Sources22–25

  • Anglican Communion

    Article I of the Thirty-nine Articles confesses God as "the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible," joining making and preserving in one clause without the phrase "out of nothing."

    The 1662 collect for the eighth Sunday after Trinity prays to the God "whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth," and the Articles are silent on the days. The Fifth Mark of Mission (added 1990) reads "Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth."

    Sources26–28

  • Methodist and Wesleyan churches

    The Methodist Articles of Religion confess God as "the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible."

    John Wesley's sermon "On Divine Providence" rejects a merely general providence and describes three concentric circles of providence: all humankind, those who profess Christ, and real Christians. As explained in Holiness Today, the Church of the Nazarene's statement does not choose among progressive creationism, intelligent design, young-earth creationism or theistic evolution, provided God is affirmed as Creator.

    Sources29–31

  • Baptist and evangelical churches

    The Second London Baptist Confession (1689) follows Westminster in "six days," while the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 holds that "Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image" but does not specify the length of the days.

    The 1689 Confession holds that God "neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin." Two bodies that are not churches, Answers in Genesis and BioLogos, shape evangelical teaching on origins.

    Sources32–35

  • Pentecostal and charismatic churches

    The Assemblies of God paper "The Doctrine of Creation" says God "brought the universe into existence out of nothing (ex nihilo)," describes a "six-day format, evening to morning," and does not fix the length of the days or the age of the earth, while affirming Adam and Eve as "real, historical persons."

    Pentecostal teaching speaks of God's present action through healing rather than in a distinct article on providence, and the Church of God declares "Divine healing is provided for all in the atonement."

    Sources36–37

  • Seventh-day Adventist Church

    Fundamental Belief 6 confesses "a recent six-day creation" in "six literal days," and the church's Geoscience Research Institute works to an understanding of nature consistent with that belief.

    Fundamental Belief 20 holds that God instituted the Sabbath "as a memorial of Creation," and Belief 8 places providence within "a great controversy between Christ and Satan."

    Sources38–40

  • Anabaptist churches

    The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective holds that "The world has been created good because God is good" and that "God upholds order in creation and limits the forces of sin and evil."

    The Dordrecht Confession, which the Amish affirm, uses "six days," while the Mennonite Confession does not address the length of the days.

    Sources41–44

How the field developed

  1. Ancient Near East
    c. 1630 BC

    The most complete text of Atrahasis, which tells creation and flood as one story, bears dates about 1630 BC. Alan Millard argued in 1966 that it is a closer parallel to Genesis 1 to 11 than Enuma Elish.45

  2. Ancient Near East
    c. 1125 to 900 BC

    W. G. Lambert concludes that the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, in which Marduk defeats Tiamat and splits her to make the heavens, was composed between the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I (about 1125 to 1104 BC) and about 900 BC.4647

  3. Early church
    2nd century

    The Shepherd of Hermas, the earliest explicit Christian statement usually cited, teaches that God "made all things out of nothing." Justin Martyr still speaks of "unformed matter," while Theophilus of Antioch holds that "nothing was coeval with God."484950

  4. Early church
    Early 3rd century

    Tertullian's Against Hermogenes, the first whole treatise on the question, answers the view that God made the world from eternal matter, which "introduces two gods."51

  5. Early church
    4th century

    Basil of Caesarea's homilies on the Hexaemeron take the days as days: "Now twenty-four hours fill up the space of one day." In the Orthodox tradition his homilies remain the classic commentary on the six days.5210

  6. Late antiquity
    5th century

    Augustine argues in City of God XI.6 that "the world was made, not in time, but simultaneously with time."53

  7. Medieval
    1215

    The Fourth Lateran Council gives the doctrine its medieval conciliar form: God created "from nothing both spiritual and corporeal creatures," and "the devil and other demons were created by God naturally good, but they became evil by their own doing."1

  8. Reformation
    1563

    The Heidelberg Catechism confesses the Father "who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them," and its answer on providence says that leaf and blade, rain and drought, health and sickness "come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand."2254

  9. Reformation
    5 September 1607

    Paul V's decree on the De Auxiliis controversy allows the Dominicans and the Jesuits each to keep their doctrine and forbids mutual censure, so that the Thomist and Molinist accounts both remain permitted positions within Roman Catholic teaching.55

  10. Modern
    1814

    Thomas Chalmers proposes the gap reading, which places long ages between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. As Lee Irons records, G. H. Pember popularized it from 1876 and the Scofield Reference Bible (first published 1909) entrenched it in fundamentalist circles.56

  11. Modern
    1870

    The First Vatican Council's Dei Filius defines that God freely created the spiritual and bodily orders "from the beginning of time," from nothing, and anathematizes the claim that finite things "emanated from the divine substance."57

  12. Modern
    3 December 1872

    George Smith of the British Museum reads his translation of a flood story on a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London. His The Chaldean Account of Genesis follows in 1876.5859

  13. Modern
    30 June 1909

    The Pontifical Biblical Commission answers that yom may be taken "either in the literal sense for the natural day" or for a certain space of time, and that the question is "the subject of free discussion among exegetes."3

  14. Modern
    1967

    Lynn White Jr.'s "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," delivered on 26 December 1966 and published in Science on 10 March 1967, argues that "Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has ever seen." It opens the modern debate on humanity's place in creation.606162

  15. Modern
    2000 to 2004

    The Presbyterian Church in America (2000) accepts divergent readings of the days "as long as the full historicity of the creation account is accepted," and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (2004) judges five views not necessarily contrary to its standards.2425

  16. Modern
    24 May 2015

    Pope Francis's Laudato si' answers the charge that Genesis justifies unlimited dominion, holding that "the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures."63

How to study creation and providence

The questions it asks

  • What does it mean that God created everything from nothing, and is that a claim about dependence or a theory of how the physical world began?64
  • What does "day" (Hebrew yom) mean in Genesis 1, and how does Genesis 1 relate to Genesis 2?
  • Do the ancient Near Eastern creation texts show that Genesis depends on them, and how are their dates and the direction of influence to be judged?4745
  • Can the world's beginning be proved by reason, or is it held by faith alone?6566
  • Is the division of providence into preservation, concurrence and government a biblical list or a later arrangement?6768
  • If God governs all things, including the free acts of persons, in what sense are those acts free, and how does God know what free creatures will do?
  • If God governs all things in wisdom and love, why is there evil, and why do the innocent suffer?

Its method

Start

  1. Read the creation texts of Scripture one by one: what each says, in a standard translation, and how it has chiefly been read6970.

  2. Describe each tradition from its own texts, whether councils and catechisms, the Fathers, liturgy, confessions of faith, synodal statements or the teaching of bishops and theologians, naming the source of each statement so that a council is not confused with a commission or a pastoral letter21.

  3. Put each reading of Genesis 1 and 2 to the same five questions: what "day" means, how Genesis 1 relates to Genesis 2, what age of the earth it implies, how it relates itself to the sciences in its own words, and who holds it7172.

  4. List the ancient Near Eastern texts with their dates as the specialist sources give them, and weigh difference as well as likeness4745.

  5. Set the positions on sovereignty and freedom side by side, each on how God governs, what freedom means, how God knows the future and how evil is placed7374.

  6. Where a teaching is known only through another writer's summary, say so and name that writer25.

  7. Keep the doctrine distinct from the science: report what theologians claim about creation and cosmology without assessing the scientific evidence6475.

What to read

Its primary witnesses

  • The creation texts of Scripture: Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 and 2:4 to 25, Psalms 74, 89, 104 and 148, Job 38 to 41, Proverbs 8:22 to 31, Isaiah 40 to 45, John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1 and 11, Romans 4:17 and 8:19 to 22, and Revelation 469707677.
  • Second Maccabees 7:28 and Wisdom 14:3, where it is your providence, O Father, that steers its course7879.
  • The ancient Near Eastern texts: Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, the Sumerian flood story, Gilgamesh tablet XI, the Memphite Theology on the Shabaka Stone and the Baal cycle464580818283.
  • The rabbinic and medieval Jewish readers of Genesis: Genesis Rabbah, Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra and Nahmanides84858687.
  • The second- and third-century witnesses on matter: Hermas, Justin Martyr, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen48498850895190.
  • The hexaemeral literature on the six days, from Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Ephrem the Syrian to Jacob of Serugh, John Philoponus and Bede919293949596.
  • Augustine's Confessions XI to XIII, The City of God XI and On the Nature of Good975398.
  • Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae I, questions 22, 44 to 46 and 103 to 1057399100.
  • The creeds, councils and confessions: the Nicene Creed, Lateran IV, Dei Filius, the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession1011571022274.
  • The catechisms: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 279 to 324, the Longer Catechism of Philaret of Moscow and Luther's catechisms2717.

Standard reference works

  • Gerhard May, Schöpfung aus dem Nichts (1978; English translation 1994)103104.
  • Gary Anderson and Markus Bockmuehl, editors, Creation ex nihilo: Origins, Development, Contemporary Challenges (2017)105.
  • Paul Copan and William Lane Craig, Creation out of Nothing (2004)106.
  • Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, volume 2, God and Creation (Dutch original 1895 to 1901; English 2004)107.
  • Heinrich Schmid's Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Heinrich Heppe's Reformed Dogmatics, for the scholastic division of providence6768.
  • G. C. Berkouwer, The Providence of God (1952)108.
  • Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics III/1, as summarized by David Chao, and III/3, in a summary of Nicholas Wolterstorff's reading10968.
  • W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Creation Myths (2013), and W. G. Lambert, Alan Millard and Miguel Civil, Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood (1969)47110.
  • Terrance Tiessen, Providence and Prayer (2000), which describes eleven models of providence111.
  • Theology and Science, begun in 2003 by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, and Scientia et Fides112113.

Scholarship referenced in this study

The works below shaped the field and are cited in this study, from the earliest to the most recent. Hover over a book, or select it, to see its author and the sources behind it.

  • 1988God and Creation in Christian TheologyKathryn TannerGod and Creation in Christian Theology (1988)Kathryn TannerSources114
  • 2003Light from the EastAlexei NesterukLight from the East (2003)Alexei NesterukSources115
  • 2006Christianity and Ecological TheologyErnst M. ConradieChristianity and Ecological Theology (2006)Ernst M. ConradieSources116
  • 2009The Lost World of Genesis OneJohn H. WaltonThe Lost World of Genesis One (2009)John H. WaltonSources117
  • 2011The Spirit of CreationAmos YongThe Spirit of Creation (2011)Amos YongSources118
  • 2014From Nothing: A Theology of CreationIan McFarlandFrom Nothing: A Theology of Creation (2014)Ian McFarlandSources119
  • 2014CreationDavid FergussonCreation (2014)David FergussonSources120
  • 2014Ask the BeastsElizabeth A. JohnsonAsk the Beasts (2014)Elizabeth A. JohnsonSources121
  • 2015From Nature to CreationNorman WirzbaFrom Nature to Creation (2015)Norman WirzbaSources122
  • 2017Creation: A Guide for the PerplexedSimon OliverCreation: A Guide for the Perplexed (2017)Simon OliverSources123
  • 2023Reframing ProvidenceSimon Maria KopfReframing Providence (2023)Simon Maria KopfSources124
  • 2024African TheocologyEbenezer Yaw BlasuAfrican Theocology (2024)Ebenezer Yaw BlasuSources125

Listed because this study draws on their published work; no association with or endorsement of Numa Verse is implied. Suggest a correction.

Key terms

The words that carry the most weight in this field, each defined from the sources of this study. Turn a card over to read its definition.

The teaching that God brought into being everything other than God without any pre-existing material, freely and not by necessity12664.

God's continuing relation to what God has made, from the Latin providentia (fore-seeing) and the Greek pronoia (fore-thought); John of Damascus defines it as "the care that God takes over existing things"127128.

The three acts into which providence has commonly been divided since the high Middle Ages: God's keeping of creatures in being, God's working with and in their acts, and God's directing of all things to their end6768.

The view that "God alone causes effects in nature," against which concurrence was set; continuous-creation views are often charged with implying it129130.

The teaching that God is not one item within the world and gains nothing by creating; Robert Sokolowski calls it the "Christian distinction"57131.

The commentaries and homilies on the six days of creation, from Basil of Caesarea in the fourth century to Bede in the eighth9196.

Chaos-combat: the question whether Genesis 1, and the poetic texts that speak of God subduing the sea, echo an ancient myth in which a god defeats the sea or a sea monster before ordering the world132133.

The reading that holds the days of Genesis 1 to be long periods of time, often set in order against the history of the earth as the sciences describe it134135.

The reading that holds the seven days to be a literary and theological frame for the work of creation rather than a chronological sequence, set out by Meredith Kline, Lee Irons and Mark Futato72136.

In Molinism, God's knowledge of what would be, "midway" between natural knowledge of what could be and free knowledge of what will be: knowledge of "counterfactuals of freedom" used to decide which circumstances to actualize137138.

Where it sits

Builds on

Creation and providence

Leads to

Questions people ask

Few churches bind a reading of the days. The Adventists and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod do, and the Westminster, 1689 and Dordrecht confessions say "six days," while Catholic, Orthodox, PCA, OPC, Nazarene and Assemblies of God texts leave the length open4019233242492413936. What more churches require is the historical character of the first humans and the fall32436.

The specialist literature, critical and conservative, speaks of shared motifs reworked, of polemic or of indirect dependence rather than of copying a single Babylonian text, and scholars still differ on the direction, means and extent of any dependence140141142. Richard Hess concluded in 1995 that "no clear basis can be maintained for direct or indirect borrowing"140.

Critics, religious and not, hold that the "nothing" of the popular books that make the claim is a physical state, not the absence of all being, and the classical doctrine does not rest on a datable beginning14314466145. Aquinas held that "By faith alone do we hold, and by no demonstration can it be proved, that the world did not always exist"66.

The question is ancient: Lactantius reports Epicurus's statement of it, and the Catholic Catechism says "no quick answer will suffice"1462. Theodicies, defenses, the cross, protest and lament stand side by side, and no single answer is claimed147148149150.

The editors of the Notre Dame volume Creation ex nihilo state that the Bible never explicitly says God made everything from nothing, but that several texts imply the universe came into being by divine command rather than from pre-existing matter105. Gerhard May dated the doctrine to late second-century debate, while Paul Copan and Markus Bockmuehl find its roots in Scripture and Second Temple Judaism151152.

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  1. 1Fourth Lateran Council (1215), Constitutions (Papal Encyclicals Online)https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum12-2.htm (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 279 to 324, The Creator (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3Documents of the Pontifical Biblical Commission Translated (Creation Theology Fellowship)https://creationtheologyfellowship.org/2022/07/07/documents-of-the-pontifical-biblical-commission-translated/ (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 325 to 354 (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1A.HTM (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5Humani generis, 12 August 1950 (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html (opens in a new tab)
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  7. 7The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (Azbyka.ru)https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Filaret_Moskovskij/the-longer-catechism-of-the-orthodox-catholic-eastern-church/ (opens in a new tab)
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  24. 2428th General Assembly (2000) actions summary (PCA Historical Center)https://www.pcahistory.org/pca/ga/actions/28thGA_2000_Actions.pdf (opens in a new tab)
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  31. 31The Church of the Nazarene and the Changing World: The Forum (Holiness Today)https://holinesstoday.org/node/871 (opens in a new tab)
  32. 32The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter 4, Of Creation (the1689confession.com)https://www.the1689confession.com/1689/chapter-4 (opens in a new tab)
  33. 33The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (Southern Baptist Convention)https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/ (opens in a new tab)
  34. 34Second London Baptist Confession (1689), chapter 5 (the1689confession.com)https://www.the1689confession.com/1689/chapter-5 (opens in a new tab)
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  36. 36The Doctrine of Creation, position paper (Assemblies of God USA)https://ag.org/Beliefs/Position-Papers/The-Doctrine-of-Creation (opens in a new tab)
  37. 37Declaration of Faith (Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee)https://www.churchofgod.org/beliefs/declaration-of-faith (opens in a new tab)
  38. 38Fundamental Belief 6, Creation (Seventh-day Adventist Church)https://www.adventist.org/creation/ (opens in a new tab)
  39. 39Our Mission (Geoscience Research Institute)https://www.grisda.org/our-mission (opens in a new tab)
  40. 40Fundamental Beliefs (Seventh-day Adventist Church)https://www.adventist.org/beliefs/ (opens in a new tab)
  41. 41Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, Article 5, Creation and Divine Providence (Mennonite Church USA)https://www.mennoniteusa.org/who-are-mennonites/what-we-believe/confession-of-faith/creation-and-divine-providence/ (opens in a new tab)
  42. 42Dordrecht Confession of Faith, 1632 (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary)https://www.nobts.edu/baptist-center-theology/confessions/Dordrecht_Confession_of_Faith.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  43. 43Amish Studies: Beliefs (Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College)https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/?p=76 (opens in a new tab)
  44. 44Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, Article 6, Creation and Calling of Human Beings (Mennonite Church USA)https://www.mennoniteusa.org/who-are-mennonites/what-we-believe/confession-of-faith/creation-and-calling-of-human-beings/ (opens in a new tab)
  45. 45A New Babylonian 'Genesis' Story, by Alan R. Millard (Tyndale Bulletin)https://tyndalebulletin.org/article/30683-a-new-babylonian-genesis-story.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  46. 46Enuma Elish (The Epic of Creation), translated by L. W. King (Internet Sacred Text Archive)https://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/enuma.htm (opens in a new tab)
  47. 47Review of W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Creation Myths, by Michael P. Streck (Leipzig University)https://www.gko.uni-leipzig.de/fileadmin/Fakult%C3%A4t_GKR/Altorientalisches_Institut/Dokumente/Zeitung/Streck_2014_ReviewLambert.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  48. 48The Shepherd of Hermas, Book II, Commandment 1 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02012.htm (opens in a new tab)
  49. 49Justin Martyr, First Apology (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm (opens in a new tab)
  50. 50Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, Book II (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02042.htm (opens in a new tab)
  51. 51Tertullian, Against Hermogenes (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0313.htm (opens in a new tab)
  52. 52Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron, Homily 2 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/32012.htm (opens in a new tab)
  53. 53Augustine, The City of God, Book XI (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120111.htm (opens in a new tab)
  54. 54Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 10, Questions 27 and 28 (heidelberg-catechism.com)https://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/10.html (opens in a new tab)
  55. 55Congregatio de Auxiliis, The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04238a.htm (opens in a new tab)
  56. 56The Gap Theory of Genesis 1:2, by Lee Irons (Christian Research Journal)https://www.equip.org/articles/the-gap-theory-of-genesis-12 (opens in a new tab)
  57. 57First Vatican Council (1870), Dei Filius (Papal Encyclicals Online)https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum20.htm (opens in a new tab)
  58. 58Scientist of the Day: George Smith (Linda Hall Library)https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/george-smith/ (opens in a new tab)
  59. 59The Babel und Bibel controversy, by Dominique Charpin (Collège de France)https://www.college-de-france.fr/en/agenda/lecture/elements-for-history-of-assyriology/the-babel-und-bibel-controversy (opens in a new tab)
  60. 60The Long Reach of Lynn White Jr.'s 'The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis' (Springer Nature Communities)https://communities.springernature.com/posts/the-long-reach-of-lynn-white-jr-s-the-historical-roots-of-our-ecologic-crisis (opens in a new tab)
  61. 61Lynn White Jr., The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis, Science, 10 March 1967 (Kenyon College)https://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/ENVS%20112/Assignments/White,%20Lynn.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  62. 62Lynn White Jr., The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis (College of Charleston)https://hettingern.people.cofc.edu/EE_Fall_2014/White_Historical_Roots_of_Ecologic_Crisis.htm (opens in a new tab)
  63. 63Laudato si', 24 May 2015 (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html (opens in a new tab)
  64. 64Creatio ex nihilo: its Jewish and Christian foundations, by Janet M. Soskice (Cambridge Core)https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/creation-and-the-god-of-abraham/creatio-ex-nihilo-its-jewish-and-christian-foundations/08D38BE798EDA1E7BAAAA2D88E95E876 (opens in a new tab)
  65. 65Bonaventure (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bonaventure/ (opens in a new tab)
  66. 66Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, question 46 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1046.htm (opens in a new tab)
  67. 67Heinrich Schmid, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Providence (CCEL)https://ccel.org/ccel/schmid/theology.iv.iv.i.html (opens in a new tab)
  68. 68Providence of God, by Benjamin Wirt Farley, Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith (Monergism)https://www.monergism.com/providence-god-4 (opens in a new tab)
  69. 69Genesis 1:1 to 3; Romans 4:17; Hebrews 11:3, NRSVUE (BibleGateway)https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-3%3B+Romans+4%3A17%3B+Hebrews+11%3A3%3B+John+1%3A3%3B+Colossians+1%3A16%3B+Revelation+4%3A11%3B+Psalm+33%3A6-9&version=NRSVUE (opens in a new tab)
  70. 70Psalms 74:12 to 17, Revised JPS (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Psalms.74.12-17?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  71. 71Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Days?, by Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis)https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/could-god-really-have-created-everything-in-six-days/ (opens in a new tab)
  72. 72Space and Time in the Genesis Cosmogony, by Meredith G. Kline (American Scientific Affiliation)https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1996/PSCF3-96Kline.html (opens in a new tab)
  73. 73Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, question 22, The Providence of God (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1022.htm (opens in a new tab)
  74. 74Westminster Confession of Faith (Orthodox Presbyterian Church)https://www.opc.org/wcf.html (opens in a new tab)
  75. 75Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God, 23 July 2004 (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  76. 76Job 38:4 to 11, Revised JPS (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Job.38.4-11?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  77. 77Proverbs 8:22 to 31, Revised JPS (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Proverbs.8.22-31?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  78. 782 Maccabees 7, Knox translation (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/bible/2ma007.htm (opens in a new tab)
  79. 79Wisdom of Solomon 14, NRSVUE (BibleGateway)https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Wisdom+14&version=NRSVUE (opens in a new tab)
  80. 80The Flood story, translation (Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, University of Oxford)https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr174.htm (opens in a new tab)
  81. 81The Flood Tablet, K.3375 (British Museum)https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_K-3375 (opens in a new tab)
  82. 82The Shabaka Stone, EA498 (British Museum)https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA498 (opens in a new tab)
  83. 83The Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, by Ira Spar (Metropolitan Museum of Art)https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-gods-and-goddesses-of-canaan (opens in a new tab)
  84. 84Bereshit Rabbah 1:1 (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Bereshit_Rabbah.1.1?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  85. 85Rashi on Genesis 1:1 (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Rashi_on_Genesis.1.1?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  86. 86Ibn Ezra on Genesis 1:1 (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Ibn_Ezra_on_Genesis.1.1?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  87. 87Ramban on Genesis 1:1 (Sefaria)https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Ramban_on_Genesis.1.1?context=0 (opens in a new tab)
  88. 88Tatian, Address to the Greeks (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0202.htm (opens in a new tab)
  89. 89Irenaeus, Against Heresies II.10 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103210.htm (opens in a new tab)
  90. 90Origen, De Principiis, Book II (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04122.htm (opens in a new tab)
  91. 91Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron, Homily 1 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/32011.htm (opens in a new tab)
  92. 92St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Six Days of Creation, translated by Robin Orton (Project MUSE)https://muse.jhu.edu/book/94043 (opens in a new tab)
  93. 93St Ephrem, Commentary on Genesis, Genesis 1 to 3 (University of Virginia)https://www2.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/commentaries/EphGen.html (opens in a new tab)
  94. 94T. Muraoka, Jacob of Serugh's Hexaemeron (Better Read)https://betterread.com.au/book/jacob-of-serughs-hexaemeron.do (opens in a new tab)
  95. 95John Philoponus, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Encyclopedia.com)https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/john-philoponus (opens in a new tab)
  96. 96Commentaries on Genesis 1-3: Severian of Gabala and Bede the Venerable (IVP Academic)https://ivpress.com/commentaries-on-genesis-1-3 (opens in a new tab)
  97. 97Augustine, Confessions, Book XI (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/110111.htm (opens in a new tab)
  98. 98Augustine, Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1407.htm (opens in a new tab)
  99. 99Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, question 44 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1044.htm (opens in a new tab)
  100. 100Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, question 104 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm (opens in a new tab)
  101. 101Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Credo (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P13.HTM (opens in a new tab)
  102. 102Belgic Confession (Christian Reformed Church in North America)https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/belgic-confession (opens in a new tab)
  103. 103Gerhard May, Schöpfung aus dem Nichts, 1978 (Finding Augustine)https://findingaugustine.org/Record/34301 (opens in a new tab)
  104. 104Gerhard May, Creatio Ex Nihilo: Doctrine of Creation Out of Nothing in Early Christian Thought (AbeBooks)https://www.abebooks.com/Creatio-Nihilo-Doctrine-Creation-Out-Nothing/32279649785/bd (opens in a new tab)
  105. 105Creation ex nihilo: Origins, Development, Contemporary Challenges (University of Notre Dame, Department of Theology)https://theology.nd.edu/news/creation-ex-nihilo-origins-development-contemporary-challenges-edited-by-gary-a-anderson-and-markus-bockmuehl/ (opens in a new tab)
  106. 106Copan and Craig, Creation out of Nothing, 2004 (Technical University of Munich library)https://search.ub.tum.de/vufind/Record/DE-604.BV020032917 (opens in a new tab)
  107. 107Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, volume 2: God and Creation, excerpt (Baker Academic)https://cdn-static.supadu.com/baker-academic-us/pdf/Excerpt_9780801026553.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  108. 108Summary of G. C. Berkouwer, The Providence of God (Books at a Glance)https://www.booksataglance.com/book-summaries/the-providence-of-god-studies-in-dogmatics-by-g-c-berkouwer/ (opens in a new tab)
  109. 109Barth on Creation, by David C. Chao (davidchao.publicplatform.net)https://davidchao.publicplatform.net/?p=1072 (opens in a new tab)
  110. 110Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood, 1969 (Eisenbrauns)https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-57506-184-9.html (opens in a new tab)
  111. 111Terrance L. Tiessen, Providence and Prayer: How Does God Work in the World? (IVP Academic)https://ivpress.com/providence-prayer (opens in a new tab)
  112. 112Theology and Science (CTNS)https://www.ctns.org/publications/theology-science (opens in a new tab)
  113. 113About the journal (Scientia et Fides)https://apcz.umk.pl/SetF/about (opens in a new tab)
  114. 114Kathryn Tanner, faculty profile (Yale Divinity School)https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-and-research/yds-faculty/kathryn-tanner (opens in a new tab)
  115. 115Fellows directory, page 13 (International Society for Science and Religion)https://www.issr.org.uk/fellows/users-page/13/ (opens in a new tab)
  116. 116Prof Ernst Conradie, Fellow profile (International Society for Science and Religion)https://www.issr.org.uk/fellows/user/473 (opens in a new tab)
  117. 117John Walton, faculty profile (Wheaton College)https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/faculty/john-walton/ (opens in a new tab)
  118. 118Amos Yong, faculty profile (Fuller Theological Seminary)https://www.fuller.edu/faculty/amos-yong/ (opens in a new tab)
  119. 119Ian A. McFarland, faculty profile (Candler School of Theology, Emory University)https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/profiles/mcfarland-ian.html (opens in a new tab)
  120. 120David Fergusson, Creation, Eerdmans, 2014 (MIT Press Bookstore)https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780802871961 (opens in a new tab)
  121. 121Elizabeth A. Johnson, faculty profile (Fordham University)https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theology/faculty/elizabeth-a-johnson/ (opens in a new tab)
  122. 122Norman Wirzba, profile (Duke University Office of the Provost)https://provost.duke.edu/profile/norman-wirzba/ (opens in a new tab)
  123. 123Simon Oliver, staff profile (Durham University)https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/simon-oliver/ (opens in a new tab)
  124. 124Simon Maria Kopf, Reframing Providence, 2023 (INTERS)https://inters.org/node/1972 (opens in a new tab)
  125. 125Ebenezer Yaw Blasu, African Theocology, press kit (Presbyterian University College, Ghana)https://www.presbyuniversity.edu.gh/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Blasu_Presskit-final.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  126. 126Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, question 45 (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1045.htm (opens in a new tab)
  127. 127Genesis 22:14 and related passages, NRSVUE (BibleGateway)https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+22%3A14%3BGenesis+50%3A20%3BProverbs+16%3A9%3BProverbs+16%3A33%3BDaniel+4%3A34-35&version=NRSVUE (opens in a new tab)
  128. 128John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith II.29, Concerning Providence (CCEL)https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209.iii.iv.ii.xxix.html (opens in a new tab)
  129. 129Paper on Suárez and divine concurrence, by Alfred J. Freddoso (University of Notre Dame)https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/papers/conserv.htm (opens in a new tab)
  130. 130Creation and Conservation (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creation-conservation/ (opens in a new tab)
  131. 131Robert Sokolowski, The God of Faith and Reason (Woodslane)https://woodslane.au/Book/9780813208275/The-God-of-Faith-and-Reason (opens in a new tab)
  132. 132Review of Tsumura, Creation and Destruction, by Karljürgen G. Feuerherm (Journal of Hebrew Scriptures)https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/5709/4762?inline=1 (opens in a new tab)
  133. 133David Toshio Tsumura, Creation and Destruction: A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament (Eisenbrauns)https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-57506-106-1.html (opens in a new tab)
  134. 134Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, volume 1, The Mosaic Account of the Creation (CCEL)https://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology1.iv.x.vi.html (opens in a new tab)
  135. 135Hugh Miller, The Testimony of the Rocks, excerpts and outline (19th Century Science)https://geology.19thcenturyscience.org/books/1870-Miller-Testimony/htm/doc.html (opens in a new tab)
  136. 136The Framework Interpretation: An Exegetical Summary, by Lee Irons (Ordained Servant)https://www.opc.org/OS/html/V9/1c.html (opens in a new tab)
  137. 137Review of Kirk R. MacGregor, Luis de Molina, by Robert W. Kleber (Denver Journal)https://denverjournal.denverseminary.edu/the-denver-journal-article/luis-de-molina-the-life-and-theology-of-the-founder-of-middle-knowledge/ (opens in a new tab)
  138. 138Review of Luis de Molina, On Divine Foreknowledge, by John Martin Fischer (The Philosophical Review)https://andrewmbailey.com/jmf/Review_Freddoso.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  139. 139Revised Social Principles 2024 (United Methodist Church)https://resurrection.church/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Revised-Social-Principles-2024-English.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  140. 140Genesis 1-2 and Recent Studies of Ancient Texts, by Richard S. Hess (Science and Christian Belief)https://gospelstudies.org.uk/biblicalstudies/pdf/science-and-christian-belief/07-2_141.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  141. 141The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1, introduction sample (Fortress Press)https://ms.fortresspress.com/downloads/080066373X_Introduction.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  142. 142The Polemic Nature of the Genesis Cosmology, by Gerhard F. Hasel (The Evangelical Quarterly)https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1974-2_081.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  143. 143David Albert pans Lawrence Krauss's new book, by Jerry A. Coyne (Why Evolution Is True)https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2012/04/02/david-albert-pans-lawrence-krausss-new-book/ (opens in a new tab)
  144. 144Is Lawrence Krauss a Physicist, or Just a Bad Philosopher?, by John Horgan (Scientific American)https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/cross-check/is-lawrence-krauss-a-physicist-or-just-a-bad-philosopher (opens in a new tab)
  145. 145God and Creation, by Herbert McCabe (New Blackfriars, Cambridge Core)https://core-cms.cambridgecore.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/5D579661C9BB8F8CA9C5C9B9E7D80FEB/S0028428900008210a.pdf/god-and-creation.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  146. 146Lactantius, A Treatise on the Anger of God (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0703.htm (opens in a new tab)
  147. 147Augustine, Enchiridion (New Advent)https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (opens in a new tab)
  148. 148Logical Problem of Evil, by James R. Beebe (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)https://iep.utm.edu/evil-log/ (opens in a new tab)
  149. 149John Stott, The Cross of Christ, product description (Logos Bible Software)https://www.logos.com/product/35459/the-cross-of-christ (opens in a new tab)
  150. 150Tamar's cry, by Denise M. Ackermann (NGTT)https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/ngtt/article/download/317/607/921 (opens in a new tab)
  151. 151Is Creatio Ex Nihilo a Post-Biblical Invention?, by Paul Copan (Trinity Journal)https://www.gospelstudies.org.uk/earlychurch/pdf/tj/17-1_077.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  152. 152Creatio ex nihilo in Palestinian Judaism and Early Christianity, by Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford Research Archive)https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3623a255-d2bb-49ed-88b4-57bc8c80fc26 (opens in a new tab)

Page record

Reviewed and approved by Duane Herholdt, BA (Theology), Chief Executive Officer, Numa Verse

Study version: v1.1, 27 October 2026 (theology map v1.27)

Last reviewed: 9 November 2026

How these pages are made

  • 9 November 2026: First draft from the approved study v1.1.