The Future of Creation Order

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction to the Philosophy of Creation Order, with Special Emphasis on the Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd

   • Gerrit Glas, Jeroen de Ridder

   Pages 1-30

3. Erratum

   • Gerrit Glas, Jeroen de Ridder

   Pages E1-E1

4. The Concept of Creation Order

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31

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   2. Natural Law, Metaphysics, and the Creator

      • Eleonore Stump

      Pages 33-49

   3. Is the Idea of Creation Order Still Fruitful?

      • Danie Strauss

      Pages 51-66

   4. Creation Order in the Light of Redemption (1): Natural Science and Theology

      • Henk G. Geertsema

      Pages 67-94

5. Creation Order, Emergence, and the Sciences

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95

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   2. Christianity and Mathematics

      • Danie Strauss

      Pages 97-117

   3. Properties, Propensities, and Challenges: Emergence in and from the Natural World

      • Marinus Dirk Stafleu

      Pages 119-134

   4. Nuancing Emergentist Claims: Lessons from Physics

      • Arnold E. Sikkema

      Pages 135-149

   5. Order and Emergence in Biological Evolution

      • Denis Alexander

      Pages 151-169

   6. Is There a Created Order for Cosmic Evolution in the Philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd?

      • Jitse M. van der Meer

      Pages 171-202

   7. Creation Order and the Sciences of the Person

      • Gerrit Glas

      Pages 203-229

   8. Beyond Emergence: Learning from Dooyeweerdian Anthropology?

      • Lydia Jaeger

      Pages 231-253

6. Creation Order and the Philosophy of Religion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 255-255

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   2. For the Love of Wisdom: Scripture, Philosophy, and the Relativisation of Order

      • Nicholas Ansell

      Pages 257-287

   3. A Contribution to the Concept of Creation Order from a Lutheran Perspective

      • Hans Schaeffer

      Pages 289-300

   4. Out of the Ashes: A Case Study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theology and the Orders of Creation

      • Annette Mosher

      Pages 301-315

   5. Sergei Bulgakov’s Sophiology as the Integration of Sociology, Philosophy, and Theology

      • Josephien van Kessel

      Pages 317-335

This work provides an overview of attempts to assess the current condition of the concept of creation order within reformational philosophy compared to other perspectives. Focusing on the natural and life sciences, and theology, this first volume of two examines the arguments for and against the beauty, coherence and order shown in the natural world being related to the will or nature of a Creator. It examines the decay of a Deist universe, and the idea of the pre-givenness of norms, laws and structures as challenged by evolutionary theory and social philosophy. It describes the different responses to the collapse of order: that given by Christian philosophy scholars who still argue for the idea of a pre-given world order, and that of other scholars who see this idea of stable creation order and/or natural law as redundant and in need of a thorough rethinking. It studies the particular role that reformational philosophy has played in the discussion. It shows how, ever since its inception, almost a century ago, the concepts of order and law (principle, structure) have been at the heart of this philosophy, and that one way to characterise this tradition is as a philosophy of creation order. Reformational philosophers have maintained the notion of law as ‘holding’ for reality. This book discusses the questions that have arisen about the nature of such law: is it a religious or philosophical concept; does law just mean ‘orderliness’? How does it relate to laws of nature? Have they always existed or do they ‘emerge’ during the process of evolution?

• creation order
• concept of law
• natural law
• reformational philosopy
• science and religion
• cosmonomic idea
• theology of creation
• worldview emergence

• Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  Gerrit Glas, Jeroen de Ridder

Gerrit Glas MD PhD is psychiatrist and philosopher and holds the Dooyeweerd Chair for Christian philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His main interests are at the interfaces between psychiatry, philosophy, neuroscience, ethics and society. In 1993 he won the Van Helsdingen award for philosophy and psychiatry. He is editor-in-chief of Philosophia Reformata and a member of the board of the Abraham Kuyper Center for Science and the Big Questions at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Jeroen de Ridder PhD is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research focuses on social epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of religion. In 2010, he was awarded a Veni research grant by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for a project on the epistemic effects of the commercialization of science. In 2015, he received a Vidi research grant from NWO for a project on the epistemology of liberal democracy. Heis managing editor of Philosophia Reformata and a member of the board of the Abraham Kuyper Center for Science and the Big Questions at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

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