He argues that Christians should abandon the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. Oord points to the work of biblical scholars such as
Jon D. Levenson, who points out that the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo does not appear in
Genesis. Oord speculates that God created our particular universe billions of years ago from primordial chaos. This chaos, however, did not predate God, for God would have created the chaotic elements as well.[4][page needed] Oord suggests that God can create all things without creating from absolute nothingness.[5]
Oord offers nine objections to creatio ex nihilo:[6]
Theoretical problem: One cannot conceive absolute nothingness.
Biblical problem: Scripture – in Genesis, 2 Peter, and elsewhere – suggests creation from something (water, deep, chaos, etc.), not creation from absolutely nothing.
Historical problem: The
GnosticsBasilides and
Valentinus first proposed creatio ex nihilo on the basis of assuming the inherently evil nature of creation, and in the belief that God does not act in history. Early Christian theologians adopted the idea to affirm the kind of absolute divine power that many Christians now reject.
Empirical problem: We have no evidence that our universe originally came into being from absolutely nothing.
Creation-at-an-instant problem: We have no evidence in the history of the Universe after the
Big Bang that entities can emerge instantaneously from absolute nothingness. As the earliest philosophers noted, out of nothing comes nothing (ex nihilo, nihil fit).
Solitary power problem: Creatio ex nihilo assumes that a powerful God once acted alone. But power, as a social concept, only becomes meaningful in relation to others.
Errant revelation problem: The God with the capacity to create something from absolutely nothing would apparently have the power to guarantee an unambiguous and inerrant message of salvation (for example:
inerrant Bible). An unambiguously clear and inerrant divine revelation does not exist.
Problem of Evil: If God once had the power to create from absolutely nothing, God essentially retains that power. But a God of love with this capacity appears
culpable for failing to prevent evil.
Empire Problem: The kind of divine power implied in creatio ex nihilo supports a 'theology of empire', based upon unilateral force and control of others.
NNU employment
Oord was a tenured professor at NNU, where he had taught since 2002.[3] He was asked to resign by the new president of NNU in 2014 before learning that he would be laid off at the end of the 2014–2015 school year. The reason cited by the president was declining enrollment in the theology program,[7] but it was clear to other faculty and alumni that he was being dismissed because of theological positions that are not in the mainstream of the Nazarene culture, although compatible with the Wesleyan theological tradition.[8] The president received a no-confidence vote of 77 percent in 2015 and then resigned, leaving Oord employed at a lower status and pay scale.[9] A negotiated settlement and parting of ways was finally put into effect in 2018.
Personal life
Oord is married and the couple has three daughters. He is an ordained elder within the
Church of the Nazarene.[3] and serves in a pastoral role at Real Life Community Church of the Nazarene, Nampa, ID.
Oord is an avid blogger. His writing addresses issues in popular culture, the academy, and the church.
Selected bibliography
Pluriform Love: An Open and Relational Theology of Well-Being (2022)
ISBN978-1948609579
Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas (2021)
ISBN978-1948609371
^Keller, Catherine (2003).
Face of the deep: a theology of becoming. Routledge. p. 240.
ISBN978-0-415-25649-0. Retrieved October 4, 2009. Thomas Jay Oord has advocated an 'open theology' that 'embraces the hypothesis that God did not create the world out of absolutely nothing, i.e., ex nihilo. [...]' Matching Theology and Piety: An Evangelical Process Theology of Love', PhD dissertation (Claremont Graduate University, 1999), p. 284.[permanent dead link]