Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 73

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tion of God. So, the relation between God and man is the relationship of creater and creation. As man is created in the image of God, he shares some of the qualities of God in a finite manner. God is infinite, personal and transcendent. Few qualities of God in a limited form like intelligence, morality, love, righteousness, justice, creativity are found in man.
"An important teaching of Christianity is that the physical body is real and significant. It is not evil, nor is it necessarly the source of evil." Writes Charles A. Moore in his article: "The fundamental of living faiths: Christianity."39 Since the body is real and since man is to use Aristotalian language brought into Christianity by St. Thomas Aquinans 'a substance' composed of soul and body, the good life is to be lived in the body and in the world where the body may act.
Creation of World
The Bible begins with the very simple statement-"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1.1. The great significance of the opening statement of the Bible lies in its teaching that the world had a beginning. The Scripture speaks of this beginnings also in other places.40
Dr. Radhakrishnan compares the creation of the world mentioned in the Bible And the earth was without form and void; and darkness of God moved upon the face of the water;41 with the Vedic hymns of creation. The Vedic seer uses the same metaphor of water. 42 While quoting from the Bible "The spirit of God moved on the face of the wators" Dr. Radhakrishnan mentions other version of the Bible which mentions 'brooded' on the water. (Genesis: Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges). He further states that the spirit of God brooded over the waste and the void, and brought forth light and life. This symbol of brooding is taken from the traditional cosmogony, where the world is compared to an egg and God is figured as a bird brooding over it. He is of the opinion that the brooding power of a bird like deity is responsible for the production of life and light. He quotes from the Upanisads where the metaphor of God brooding over the world - egg is found.43 He also accepts Tapas' the inward travail of the spirit with the 'brooding' which is responsible for the creative work.44 He remarks "The successive acts of creation detailed in the first chapter of Genesis are due to this power of the spirit which creates world after world in order to realize itself."45
He then moves from the beginning of creation to He says: "In the beginning, says the Bible, was the
our present time. void, we have it