About Providence, Divine Action and the Church


In this blog, Terry J. Wright posts thoughts and shares research on the Christian doctrine of providence. This doctrine testifies to God’s provision for all things through creation’s high priest, the man Christ Jesus. However, the precise meaning and manner of this provision is a perpetually open question, and this blog is a forum for discussion of the many issues relating to providence and the place of the Church within God’s action.

Thursday 1 September 2011

Amos Yong, I'm Confused!

"Can you spare a couple of minutes, Lollo? I need some help."
Here’s a quotation from Amos Yong:

From an eschatological perspective, a finely tuned universe that anticipated human life, also known as the Anthropic Principle, can be understood as a cosmic type of the proleptic action of God so that the transition from complexity to life and the various processes of evolutionary convergence are signs foreshadowing in general the redemptive transformation of living creatures in the age to come. The emergence of life thus proleptically portends the resurrection of living, conscious, and embodied beings in the eschaton.

I’ve read this quotation a number of times now, and still I’m not entirely sure what Yong is saying. The best I can muster is this:

The emergence of complex life, from amoeba to Homo sapiens, itself foreshadows or anticipates the inauguration of the new creation from the old, something that is also the work of the Spirit.

If this is what Yong means, then I hope no-one thinks me conceited when I say that my summary is a hell of a lot clearer than the original sentence.

On a slightly different note: It seems that Amos Yong is one of the keynote speakers at next year’s meeting of the SST.
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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous1 September 2011 at 17:38

    I just wanted to say I love this blog. Thanks for it.

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  2. Terry Wright2 September 2011 at 07:45

    Thanks, Anon.

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  3. Amos Yong23 September 2011 at 02:13

    I am a pentecostal tongues speaker who believes in the gift of the interpretation of tongues, and whala, you have that gift! But don't be conceited about it since what the Spirit gives the Spirit can withhold also :-) Thanks for reading the book, even some sentences multiple times.

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  4. Terry Wright23 September 2011 at 07:57

    Professor, I hope that I didn't cause offence by what was intended to be a light-hearted post. I found The Spirit of Creation to be an excellent read.

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  5. Amos Yong1 November 2011 at 01:17

    No offense taken

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  6. Amos Yong2 August 2012 at 20:09

    I just got notice from Eerdmans that you had also published a short note/review on my book in Theological Book Review 23:2 (2011); what were the inclusive page numbers of your review if you have that handy?

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  7. Terry Wright4 August 2012 at 15:17

    Hello, Professor. Here are the details:

    Amos Yong, The Spirit of Creation: Modern Science and Divine Action in the Pentecostal–Charismatic Imagination, in Theological Book Review 23:2 (2011), p. 78

    I hope you find it a fair review of a very good book.

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  8. Amos Yong31 August 2012 at 06:59

    Per chance, if you have an electronic copy of the review, do you mind emailing that to me at ayong@regent.edu? I can't seem to find a way to get my hands on the review. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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