Theology
Joining Creation’s Praise A Theological Ethic of Creatureliness Brian Brock
“In the beginning, God created . . .” Thus begins the Bible’s story of a long conversation between God and creatures, one in which hu- mans are often the least edifying contributors. They need to learn what it means to confess themselves creatures if they are to begin to understand what it means to be human and how to live. Joining Creation’s Praise, a major statement by Christian ethicist Brian Brock, shows how confessing that we are creatures deeply re- shapes every aspect of Christian thinking and living. Human beings are made to embody Christ’s image in the world—not as dominators but as conduits of divine life. In this comprehensive yet clear volume of theological ethics, Brock follows the first few chapters of Genesis in order to discover the things that the sages of Israel took to be crucial for the ethical life of human beings among other creatures in God’s world. Informed by theological rigor and careful exegesis, the many ethical reflec - tions in this volume allow an ancient wisdom to shed fresh light on very postmodern ethical questions about conversion, life with God, knowledge and wisdom, dominion, Sabbath, vocation, economics, human dignity, our relationship with the rest of creation, sexuality, marriage, family, sin, death, and politics. This book will appeal to scholars and students in courses and semi- nars on Christian ethics as well as theologians interested in ethics. FROM THE BOOK There is thus no more effective way to reorient Christian action than by tracing the stunningly rich contours of the kaleidoscope of reality descriptions offered in the canonical Scriptures. The invita- tional rather than argumentative tone I hope I have achieved in this book reflects my conviction that its main message would be falsi - fied were I to argue with readers in order to force them to abandon wrong thoughts or to pronounce as an ethical authority on the acts incumbent on every Christian. My aim is much more modest: to show how the way ancient believers experienced creation remains accessible to Christians today. Israel’s story of beginnings as found in Genesis remains fruitful and liberating to Christians who live in a world remarkably different from that of the ancient people of faith who penned this first book of the Bible.
AUGUST 2025 • 1,216 pp. • cloth • $74.99 • 9781540963260
Brian Brock (PhD, King’s College, London) is chair of moral and practical theology at the University of Aberdeen. He has written scholarly works on the use of the Bible in Christian ethics, the ethics of technological development, and the theology of disability, including Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture . He is managing editor of the Journal of Disability and Religion , founder and managing editor of the T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics , and president of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics.
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR DISABILITY 9781540962973 • $21.99p
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