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The Judeo-Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo offers a unique view of reality, in which God, the transcendent Creator who has brought all things into being, is nonetheless profoundly immanent to creatures. Can similar strands of thought be found in Chinese philosophy? In this lecture, by critically examining a prominent scholar's work in this field, Yonghua Ge will argue that the Daoist vision of reality is perhaps closer to Neoplatonic emanation than to creatio ex nihilo. This means that not only can there be constructive dialogues between Christian and Chinese thoughts, but interactions between the two can be mutually beneficial.

This lecture is part of our Summer Lecture 2016 series.

Dr. Yonghua Ge joined Regent College in August 2015 as Post-Doctoral Fellow in Theology for the period 2015-2018 and has been engaged in a postdoctoral research project on the relationship between the Christian doctrine of creation and ancient Chinese ontology. Yonghua Ge has taught general sciences, physics, and mathematics in China, Thailand, and the US. He has published articles in Tyndale Bulletin, The Heythrop Journal, Chinese Social Studies Today, and the Regent Review of Christian Thoughts. He is currently working on publishing his doctoral dissertation in both English and Mandarin.