Creature

Use in the book

Creaturely status joins dependence to extraordinary dignity. The soul is God's image and a treasure to its creator and companions; its created origin does not make it negligible. Other creatures serve its enjoyment, while it in turn is made to give delight and praise. Human freedom deepens this dignity because good actions can be voluntarily performed rather than merely mechanically produced. The book can consequently speak of creatures in terms that sound almost divine while continuing to distinguish maker from made. IV.98 marks the dependence explicitly: a creature's possibility rests upon what its creator can make it capable of doing. The expansiveness of the claim derives from divine generosity, not from independence of God.

Places to read

1. I.67The created divine image is presented as an incomparable dignity.
2. I.68Further creatures add witnesses, companions, and shared riches.
3. IV.42Free agency gives creatures the dignity and risk of voluntary action.
4. IV.98Creaturely capacity is related explicitly to the creator’s enabling power.

In this edition

Do not substitute “animal” for “creature” without checking the sentence. Claims of infinite capacity are made about dependent spiritual powers, not self-existent rival deities.