# A distinct creation need not be an absent God

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH05.P023](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH05.P023/#char=1621,1648): "All creation is separation."

The artist and birth images make the world's distinctness emotionally vivid: a creation can be loved without its creator endorsing everything it does. But 'separation' needs qualification if it is read as a theological definition. Aquinas explicitly affirms both God's transcendence and his presence within creatures. In *Summa theologiae* I, q.8, a.1, God is present as the cause of their existence, rather than as a constituent part; being above things does not prevent this presence. [Aquinas, q.8](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1008.htm)

The detached artwork analogy has a further limit. In I, q.104, a.1, Aquinas distinguishes making something from sustaining its existence: a house survives its builder's departure, but creatures depend continually on God. On that account, Chesterton's 'breaking off' can express a distinction between creator and creature, but cannot mean that the creature subsequently exists independently. The comparison clarifies the metaphor's force without making it a complete account of creation. The inspected witness is the English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920), on New Advent; the medieval work was composed c.1265–1273. [Aquinas, q.104](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm); [chronology](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28242/chapter/213362059)

## Sources

- [Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920)](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1008.htm), I, q.8, a.1, answer and replies 1–3
- [Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920)](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1104.htm), I, q.104, a.1, answer; edition colophon
- [Chronological List of Aquinas's Writings](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28242/chapter/213362059), General Theological Treatises: Summa theologiae, c.1265–1273

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