Creativity in Creation

Abstract

According to the world-actualization model (WAM), God creates by selecting and actualizing a possible world. This chapter argues that WAM is in tension with divine creativity. To flesh out the nature of creativity, three types of creative thought processes described by Margaret Boden are introduced. It is then argued that the God of WAM fails to exhibit any of them. Next, the chapter explores several ways one might try to ease the tension between divine creativity and the world-actualization model, including potential transformations of WAM itself, but none of these appear particularly satisfactory. The chapter concludes with three desiderata one ought to satisfy in creating a creative model of creation; a truly creative God must display originality, purpose, and world-specific intentions in the creation of the world.

In defence of God making stuff up: a reply to Ward

“…There is much to like about this set-up. The artist-artefact analogy is an attractive way for theists to understand God's relationship to the natural world, capturing the idea that God creates novel things of value with intention and purpose (Page (2022), 121). The idea that God is totally original is attractive too: God is supreme, creating out of nothing without depending on anything distinct from himself.…”

“…My central claim is that Containment Exemplarism is inconsistent with the idea of God creating creatively. To see why this is the case, I first explore a prominent account of divine creating dubbed the ‘World Actualization Model’ or WAM, by Meghan Page (Page (2022), 120–121) 6 . I then explain why Page thinks that on WAM God provides no creative contribution to creating.…”

“…In her essay ‘Creativity and Creation’, Meghan Page asks, ‘If God creates by instantiating a pre-existing state of affairs, does God exemplify creativity?’ (Page (2022), 127). Page argues that WAM is in tension with divine creativity.…”

“…While the distinction is fairly intuitive, Page provides the following example to illustrate: ‘While a novice sculptor aims to imitate the forms and authorities in her field, the master sculptor develops her own unique style and artistry. Creative artistry requires originality’ (Page (2022), 120). As Page's example shows, the relevant originality in view in creative artistry is P-creativity, not H-creativity.…”

“…It is worth considering whether her objection to theistic activism can be avoided by the modified activist version I endorse. In creating the conceptual realm, Page notes that the activist God is genuinely creative (Page (2022), 136). The problem, however, according to Page, is that the resultant activist picture of divine creation is inconsistent with the idea that God creates this world, with all the specific features it contains, for a purpose.…”