Colin Gunton was a formidable scholar and thoughtful pastor, specializing his research in the doctrines of creation and the Trinity. Here are some closing remarks from my recently submitted article: “Colin Guton’s Trinitarian Theology of Creation: Creation as Creed, ex Nihilo, and Trinitarian.” Commenting on the relevance of the Trinity to culture Gunton writes:
“Modernity is like all cultures, in being in need of the healing light of the gospel of the Son of God, made incarnate by the Holy Spirit for the perfecting of the creation.” Gunton even goes so far as to say, “…the value of the theology of the Trinity lies more in enabling a rethinking of the topics of theology and culture than in offering a privileged view of the being of God.”
Thus, Gunton’s trinitarian theology of creation calls for personal, communal, interaction with creation, particularly in culture-making, not as a byproduct of being human, but precisely because we are human, made in the image of the triune God. By believing in creation ex nihilo as a product of the triune God, we must do something; we must create but not merely create, re-create, bringing the healing light of the gospel of the triune God into theology and culture for the perfecting of creation. Our creed calls us to participate with the two hands of God in the perfection of creation for the glory of the Father. In so doing, the transcendent Creator will become an ever-increasing immanent, personal God. By embracing Gunton’s theology of creation—as creed, ex nihilo, and trinitarian—creation becomes the context and substance of relation and worship, community and doxology, through our personal relationships, cultural participation, and praise.