Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Creation: A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two
    Creation: A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two
    Creation: A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two
    Ebook72 pages1 hour

    Creation: A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two

    By Andy Ross

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Everything we have ever experienced has been mediated through the wonder of creation. But where does it all come from, and why do we exist at all? God is eternally creating. Each plant, animal, and thought is an expression of God's being. The second volume of this theology for the HERE and NOW is a meditation on God's creative process. When was the beginning? Why does God create? How does God create? By asking these questions, we discover a God that is both immanent and transcendent. God is creating here and now. All we have to do is look.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherResource Publications
    Release dateJul 29, 2022
    ISBN9781666745115
    Creation: A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two
    Author

    Andy Ross

    Andy Ross is a literary agent in Oakland, California. The Andy Ross Agency represents books in a wide range of genres including: narrative non-fiction, journalism, history, current events, animals, religion, literary and commercial fiction, and young adult fiction.

    Read more from Andy Ross

    Related to Creation

    Related ebooks

    Religion & Spirituality For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Meditations on Buddhanature

      Sep 20, 2023

      Meditations on Buddhanature
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Mind That Knows Itself

      Mar 2, 2021

      The Mind That Knows Itself
      8 min read

    • Article

      To Be, Not To Do

      May 5, 2021

      To Be, Not To Do
      7 min read

    • Article

      Feeling Our Way to Awakening

      Nov 3, 2020

      Feeling Our Way to Awakening
      10 min read

    • Article

      Responding To Loss

      Dec 25, 2023

      Responding To Loss
      18 min read

    • Article

      ‘For Your Guidance!’

      Jun 30, 2020

      ‘For Your Guidance!’
      8 min read

    • Article

      Bookmark This read…listen…stream

      Apr 1, 2020

      How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage Kelly McGonigal, PhD • Avery McGonigal’s thesis is simple—as humans, we are hardwired for movement. She builds her case through a wide-ranging survey of scientific studies, interview

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Natural World Is a Powerful Teacher

      Feb 5, 2019

      The Natural World Is a Powerful Teacher
      4 min read

    • Article

      TUNE IN TO Mindful

      Feb 19, 2019

      from Carley Hauck Build Resilience. Uncertainty is like fertilizer for difficult emotions. This meditation reminds you that life is always in flux and the most courageous thing you can do is slow down, turn toward your difficult emotions, and meet th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Virtue, Meditation, Wisdom

      Sep 27, 2022

      Virtue, Meditation, Wisdom
      4 min read

    • Article

      You Are The Nightingale

      May 21, 2024

      You Are The Nightingale
      4 min read

    • Article

      Language Both Enraptures and Deceives Us

      Sep 12, 2019

      The purpose of language is to reveal the contents of our minds, says Julie Sedivy. It’s a simple and profound insight. We are social animals and language is what springs us from our isolated selves and connects us with others. Sedivy has taught lingu

      13 min read

    • Article

      Soul

      Dec 28, 2018

      Soul
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Soul and Addiction

      Jan 9, 2023

      The Soul and Addiction
      9 min read

    • Article

      Everything Is Enlightenment

      Nov 3, 2020

      Everything Is Enlightenment
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Ground of Resilience

      May 7, 2019

      The Ground of Resilience
      12 min read

    • Article

      Who Are You, Really?

      May 18, 2021

      Who Are You, Really?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Nothing Solid, Nothing Separate

      Feb 11, 2020

      Nothing Solid, Nothing Separate
      9 min read

    • Article

      Can We Know Others’ Worlds?

      Mar 8, 2022

      Can We Know Others’ Worlds?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams

      Feb 27, 2020

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams
      22 min read

    • Article

      Heart Open, Love Forward

      Sep 17, 2020

      Heart Open, Love Forward
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Elise Ballard

      Jul 25, 2020

      Q&A Elise Ballard
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dreaming Ourselves into Existence

      Aug 7, 2018

      Dreaming Ourselves into Existence
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Journey to Where We Already Are

      Mar 7, 2023

      The Journey to Where We Already Are
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Power of Awareness

      Jan 21, 2025

      The Power of Awareness
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Opposite of Grasping Is Intimacy

      Aug 4, 2020

      The Opposite of Grasping Is Intimacy
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Creation

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Creation - Andy Ross

      Creation

      A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two

      Andy Ross

      Creation

      A Theology for the Here and Now, Volume Two

      Copyright © 2022 Andy Ross. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Resource Publications

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-4509-2

      hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-4510-8

      ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-4511-5

      August 3, 2022 12:13 PM

      Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page
      On Words
      Beginnings
      God’s Desire
      Expansion and Complexification
      Self-Actualization
      In the End
      On Practice
      Bibliography

      To Rebecca

      Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up a stone, and you will find me there.

      —The Gospel of Thomas

      ¹

      1. Meyer, Thomas,

      20

      .

      On Words

      A Prologue to Creation

      What cannot be spoken with words, but that whereby words are spoken: Know that alone to be Brahman.

      —Kena Upanishad

      ¹

      We cannot not communicate. Even if I choose to say nothing, I am still communicating something. Communication is how we express ourselves. It is how we share our experience of life with others. And, yet, the journey from experience to thought to word is limiting. Though language is beautiful, it can never quite grasp the nuance of even the simplest experience.

      The process of language is this: we experience life; we conceptualize that experience; we express that conceptualization. I walk out of my house in the morning and see the sun peaking over the trees. I think to myself, this is beautiful. When I get to work, I try and describe the sunrise to a coworker. I walked out of my house and the sky was illuminated by the soft glow of morning rays—pink, purple, and blue. I experience a sunrise, I consider the experience, and I communicate the experience. This is communication.²

      Understanding, or conceptualizing, our experiences is an ongoing process. As I experience life, my storehouse of knowledge grows, and as knowledge grows, so does understanding. But a thought cannot contain even the simplest experience. I think I know what it is to touch these keys, but my thoughts are a shadow of the experience of fingers touching keyboard. The conceptualization of an experience is not the experience. How could it be? A thought is a thought, and an experience is an experience.³ During the process, something is always lost.

      Language is the process of expressing thought. The paragraphs I write, the words I say, and the plethora of other ways I express myself are my attempts at communicating what I am thinking about a specific subject at a specific moment. And just as thoughts cannot contain experience, words cannot contain thought. Thoughts are tangled and abstract; words tend to be solid and stoic. In my desire to be understood and to understand, I speak and I listen. But what is communicated is not what is thought, and what is thought is not what is experienced. Something is always lost in translation.

      Points of Reference

      Language is as beautiful as it is messy, and though language is limited, its value cannot be overstated. The cultures of the world and the religious traditions that spring from these cultures are made possible by our ability to communicate. The more we are able to share our experiences, the better we are able to participate in the wonder of creation. All I have is my experience of life until I communicate. It is through the miracle of language that I am invited to realities beyond my own. The reality of God is no exception.

      Language can never fully describe the experience of life. Even tangible realities experienced through the senses cannot be grasped by words. And, yet, tangible realities have a point of reference to help facilitate understanding. As I describe the sunrise to my coworker, I am relying on the assumption that she has seen a sunrise before. And, if she has not seen a sunrise before (however unlikely), she does have at least some rudimentary experience of the sun and the colors pink, purple, and blue.

      No matter how different our circumstances, all humans share the basic experience of life. Thus, we a have common ground through which communication can be established. This communication can be difficult, but it is always possible. We know what it is to breathe, to eat, to sleep, to get angry, to forgive—we are more alike than we are different, and this commonality is the bedrock of communication. I am sitting in a chair, drinking coffee,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1