Contents

Preface

List of Contributors

Prestige Lecture

“Children of God”: Evolution, Cosmology, and Johannine Thought

Part 1 Creation and Science

From Mapping to Meaning

Big History and Big Questions

Big History, Scientific Naturalism, and Christian Hope

The Creation Stories We Live By

Created Agencies of Creation in Genesis 1

The Evolution of the Consciousness of God and the Gospel of John

Part 2 Creation Stories in Religion

Section 1 Creation Stories—Judaism, Hinduism and African Religions

“Creation Out of Nothing” and the Hebrew Bible

“Why the World, Why the Universe?” A Buddhist Perspective

The Lost Land and the Earth Mother: African Mythology and the Issue of Land in Southern Africa

Section 2 John, Creation and the Kosmos

The Johannine Logos-Hymn: A Cross-Cultural Celebration of God’s Creative-Redemptive Work

“Children of God” and Aristotelian Epigenesis in the Gospel of John

Cosmos, Reality, and God in the Letters of John

The Cosmological Vision of John: The Evangelist as Observer and Interpreter

Summary and Reflections: The Dialogue about Stories of Origin

Academic Curriculum Vitae: R. Alan Culpepper

List of Publications: R. Alan Culpepper

Index