Re: Subcreation

On Mon, 8 Nov 1999 17:46:43 -0600 Ed Heil <edheil@...> writes:
> > > According to Dorothy L. Sayers (The Mind of the Maker), it's
> > > also the Christian orthodoxy, although not many people know
> > > that, so I'm not surprised Tolkien believed it, too.
> And yet... and yet...  What was the only thing that Adam actually
> accomplished before the Fall?  Naming the animals.  If the name of a
> thing is part of the thing, then he was engaging in an act of
> creation.  And what was he specifically creating?  Language.
>
> It's there for them who have eyes to see...
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>              edheil@postmark.net
> -------------------------------------------------
.


I don't know that much about the inner workings of Christian
theology/philosophy, but to take this idea of subcreation back a
generation, in Judaism one of the commandments (i wish i had my Sefer
haHhinukh with me up here, but it's at home) is what i've seen called in
Latin _imitatio Dei_, or in Hebrew some probably conjugated form of
_lehidamot laBorei_, "imitation of God" / "to become similar to the
Creator".  If i remembered the expression exactly in Hebrew, i'd quote
it, but part of the probably most famous expression of what this means (i
think the commandment comes from Dvarim/Deuteronomy) goes something like
"...because He is merciful, you be merciful; and because He is patient,
you be patient..."

Therefore, because He creates, you create.


-Stephen (Steg)

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