Edward W. Klink III. <i>The Beginning and End of All Things: A Biblical Theology of Creation and New Creation</i>

In his pastorally oriented biblical theology of creation, Klink discusses a range of texts across Christian Scripture with the goal of redressing “an extremely truncated” and “deficient view of the doctrine of creation” that he encountered in parish ministry (pp. 2, 165). The book began in a local church context where, in 2017–2018, Klink was a recipient of the John Stott Award for Pastoral Engagement. Part of “The Creation Project” facilitated by the Henry Center at TEDS, the granting body’s theme that year was “affirming the doctrine of creation in an age of science.”Klink’s study here does affirm the doctrine and addresses some science-related concerns. Why have Christians misunderstood creation? The first reason given is the reduction of creation to shabby debates about cosmic origins. But this is only a minor part of the study. Klink’s diagnosis and remedy are framed primarily as aspects of theology and hermeneutics. More than any dualistic model of Christian doctrine and modern science, the study seeks to overcome other false dualisms that would separate heaven and earth, body and soul, creation and fall, the first Adam and the second Adam, Christ the redeemer and Christ the creator, the beginning and the end, “end times” and all other times, this world and the world to come, and so on. Ultimately, it aims to describe the unified purpose of God in creation and new creation, elaborated in biblical, theological, and pastoral terms. In all this, the book benefits from the author’s background as a New Testament scholar who spent a decade working as a professor of biblical and theological studies until, in 2014, he left the academy to become the senior pastor at an Evangelical Free church in northern Illinois. One can appreciate the relevance of Klink’s previous books also, including a survey of biblical theology, a commentary on John, and an argument for local church. Whatever its limitations, The Beginning and End of All Things should be welcomed as a work of integrative scholarship grounded in mature exegetical practice and concrete ecclesial concern.The book has its foibles. The titles of its ten main chapters all have two words, the first of which is always “Creation’s,” the second of which always begins with the letter C. Klink begins with creation’s covenant and proceeds to its curse, its confusion, its country, its cry, its Christ, its cross, its congregation, its commission, and finally its consummation. Many of these chapters feature two or three main points that also happen to alliterate. For example, Klink uses the headings of God’s purpose, provision, and praise to introduce the three-part scheme of creation, redemption, and new creation. How illuminating are contrivances like these? Is “provision” really the best epitome for the work of Christ? Or “congregation” for the adoption of the church into Israel? Or “country” for the election of Abraham and Israel? One gets the impression that the outline might, at least at the edges, be driven by a preacher’s fondness for alliteration. However, this is a relatively minor issue that could serve to increase the book’s utility for certain audiences. Overall, the outline is coherent, the schemas are intelligible, and the discussion is current and often instructive.Sometimes Klink’s view of the big story of Scripture leads to readings that are too tidy. What is one to make of the primordial state of the world before God’s first word? Klink argues that God acts on the unformed stuff of creation (Gen 1:2) because “creation is designed with purpose and for progress,” and because “the Creator has made a covenantal claim on his creation” (pp. 24–25). Genesis 1:2 is a covenantal sign that shows God’s presence, power, and pattern in creation (pp. 27–28). It is commendable that Klink makes something positive of a textual feature that others minimize or evade, and he finds some support in biblical parallels (Deut 32:10–11) and secondary literature (Meredith Kline, among others). Yet is Gen 1:2 really about the progressive revelation of “creation’s covenant”? For adumbrations of Old Testament institutions in Gen 1, temple is a far stronger candidate than covenant—Klink does see the temple themes but subordinates them to covenant. Even if a hint of covenant theology is present in Gen 1:2, it can hardly sustain such embellishment.More broadly, there is a certain flattening of Israel and the Old Testament at the hands of covenantal theology. What exactly is “God’s creation covenant” (p. 42)? Is it like or unlike other biblical covenants, with their formulas, parties, terms, and conditions? Strictly speaking, God’s first covenant is with Noah. Is it right to frame creation itself with covenant? If so, is covenant an aspect of creation, or is it the other way around? How far can one push the claims “that eschatology flows from protology” (p. 38), that “eschatology precedes soteriology” (p. 156), and that “Jesus was always plan A” (pp. 16, 106, 113)? Perhaps the most serious problem here is that Israel is reduced to a shadow. The call of Abraham (Gen 12) shows him to be “an ‘interim Adam’ who points to and finds fulfillment in the second Adam” (p. 68, cf. 75). The nation of Israel, too, is instrumentalized as a “corporate and interim Adam” (p. 80, cf. 89). In short, the progressive scheme that finds perfect fulfillment in Christ and the church leads to a hollowing out of Israel as “the revelatory failure of the corporate Adam” (p. 91). However familiar it may be, this mode of typology is exegetically and theologically deficient.Nonetheless, there are several places where Klink’s study of creation across the full breadth of Scripture produces fresh insights. I close with two examples. First, the judgment of Satan (Gen 3; Rev 20) and the sinful rebellion of God’s creatures are linked to Joseph’s confession in Gen 50:20, namely, that what was meant for harm “God intended for good” and “the saving of many lives” (pp. 48, 52, 78). Second, in an extended look at Jesus as the second Adam in the second Garden in John 18–20, a wonderful typology emerges (pp. 100–105). These are among the features that make the book worthy of attention.

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