TOHU VA BOHU | The Word Made Fresh | Genesis 1:1-5

Believe it or not but the concept of "creation out of nothing" (or in fancy terms, "creation ex nihilo") is completely unbiblical. It's all right there in the second verse of the Bible: "The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God sept over the face of the waters."

Creation is not a beast to be tamed. The chaos doesn’t always need order. Sometimes we just need to shift our perspective, take off the lenses of Creation ex Nihilo that we didn’t even know we’ve been wearing, that “abiding western dominology” and see the beauty that is always and already here, the spirit of God hovering over the deep and anointing all who wear the mark of chaos.

Or as Dr. Catherine Keller writes in her book, The Face of the Deep A Theology of Becoming, “The abiding western dominology can with religion sanction identify anything dark, profound, or fluid with a revolting chaos, an evil to be mastered, a nothing to be ignored. 'God had made us master organizers of the world to establish a system where chaos reigns. He has made us adept in government that we may administer government among savages and senile peoples.' From the vantage point of the colonizing episteme, the evil is always disorder rather than unjust order; anarchy rather than control, darkness rather than pallor. To plead otherwise is to write 'carte blanche for chaos.' Yet those who wear the mark of chaos, the skins of darkness, the genders of unspeakable openings -- those Others of Order keep finding voice. But they continue to be muted by the bellowing of the dominant discourse.”

*Visit https://tonyorrico.com/ to view more of Tony Orrico's work and art making process.

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