Creatio ex Nihil and Christology
R.R. Reno has been one of the senior editors of the journal First Things for quite some time. His articles are rich, thoughtful, and always worth reading. Recently he has taken on the general editorship of the series Brazos Theological Commentary of the Bible (BTCB), a succession of commentaries that are not so much enamored with historical-critical exegesis, as they are with theological exegesis and exegetical theology. In 2004 Reno left his Episcopal church affiliation and converted to the Roman Catholic Church. It is because of this last item that I was pleasantly surprised when I ran across something he wrote in his BTCB volume on Genesis. Allow me to set the stage. Reno is commenting on Genesis 1.2, and specifically God’s action of creatio ex nihil . After dealing with those who object that this verse does not teach creatio ex nihil , he then begins to unpack the reasons why earlier pastors/theologians of the Church affirmed this doctrine. One of the early pastors/theologia...