The ongoing coherence and otherness of God's works of creation, reconciliation, renewal and consummation of human beings and the cosmic universe

Abstract

In this dissertation we explore the concept that the works of God continue in a creative and coherent continuum from the portrayal in Genesis 1 to the description of their consummation in Revelation through the dynamic broad movement of the Kingdom of God that moved through Israel and the other nations of the world and through the churches and other institutions as well as in the Bible, in the experiences of humanity and in the vast non-human creation. Therefore creation, redemption, renewal and consummation are seen to be linked in a process which is not confined to the usual theological pointers of the Church and the Bible. Churches and the Bible are signs and instruments of the Kingdom of God amongst and in the many universes and not the only signs and instruments of the Kingdom of God in and amongst the many universes. The importance of the coherence between each work of God, the otherness of each work and the ongoing character of God's works demonstrates itself in the impact of faith on human experience and on the very existence of human beings. The concept of developing a wholesome person with a fivesome awareness is developed, this being an awareness of a human beings creatureliness, an awareness of their sinful tendencies of doing damage to God, the self as being created by God and all other creatures of God, an awareness of the salvific and reconciliatory power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ and an awareness of the renovating and renewal power of the Spirit of Pentecost which is carrying and guiding the process of the fivesome awareness in our minds, our experiences and our living into afterlife towards the consummation of all things in the new heaven and the new earth. The ongoing experience of anticipatory fragments and moments of meaning and significance breaking in from the future into our current life, bridges God's Kingdom works in the future through reflective understanding of faith experience with our everyday experience as human beings. The basic point and the thrust of this dissertation is that of a `both...and' and not an `either...or' relationship between human beings and their experience of God as Creator, their own falling into sin, God as Reconciliator in Christ, God the Holy Spirit as the Renewer and Renovator of all things unto afterlife and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth - the whole ongoing process of God's works is attested in the Biblical texts and attested in the foursome and inclusive experiential awareness of God's works in our daily experience by the Holy Spirit.