The question of how the world came to exist is answered in Genesis, which details God’s creation of the universe. The concept creatio ex nihilo, or “creation from nothing,” stems from the Genesis narrative and remains one of the most important but perplexing principles in Christian thinking.
Author Brian Robinette sets out to tackle this complex idea by drawing upon biblical, theological, and philosophical sources. He argues that creatio ex nihilo is foundational to the understanding of God-world relations and Christian imagination and practice as a whole. Robinette also demonstrates that discourse surrounding creatio ex nihilo can be applied to fields such as Christology, soteriology, and even ecology.
The Difference Nothing Makes: Creation, Christ, Contemplation features an engaging defense of the creatio ex nihilo theory for students and scholars of theology. As Martin Laird, author of An Ocean of Light, reflects, “Brian Robinette’s deeply engaging contribution is a learned, grounded, and perceptive exploration of creation, incarnation, and redemption in a refreshingly new register. An unintended fruit of this remarkable book is itself a subtle redemption of theology from its own self-conscious servitude to scripted cliché.”
The new paperback edition is available for purchase on the Notre Dame Press website.
Brian D. Robinette is an associate professor of theology at Boston College. He is the author of Grammars of Resurrection: A Christian Theology of Presence and Absence.
Learn More on our blog: An Excerpt from “The Difference Nothing Makes” by Brian D. Robinette