Catherine Keller’s Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming

 

Catherine Keller’s Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming is a groundbreaking work of constructive theology that reimagines the doctrine of creation through the lens of biblical exegesis, process theology, feminist thought, poststructuralist philosophy, and ecological awareness. The book takes as its central text the opening verses of Genesis—particularly the enigmatic image of the tehom, the deep, watery chaos that precedes God’s creative act. Rather than interpreting the creation story as a linear narrative of divine imposition of order over a hostile chaos, Keller engages the text in its poetic and multivalent complexity, revealing the deep as a site of divine creativity, relationality, and ongoing becoming. She seeks to unsettle the theological tradition that has often portrayed creation in terms of ex nihilo, or creation out of nothing, preferring instead a vision that affirms creation as emerging from a fecund depth that is neither nothingness nor evil, but a generative source.

Keller begins by situating her project within the broader history of Christian theology and its treatment of Genesis 1:2. She notes that the traditional interpretation—solidified in early church theology and classical metaphysics—frames tehom as an inert or threatening formlessness that must be subdued by divine fiat. This reading, she argues, aligns with patriarchal and imperial logics that prize control, domination, and hierarchical order over relational dynamism. By recovering the Hebrew text and exploring its resonances with ancient Near Eastern myths of primordial waters, Keller reopens the possibility of reading the deep not as an adversary but as a partner in creation. She emphasizes that tehom is not personified in Genesis, unlike the combat myths of Babylonian or Canaanite traditions, suggesting a more intimate, cooperative relationship between God and the deep.

Central to Keller’s argument is the reconfiguration of creation as creatio ex profundis—creation out of the deep—rather than creatio ex nihilo. This shift allows her to envision God’s creative act not as a one-time event that eradicates chaos, but as an ongoing process of ordering and reordering in relationship with the depths of potentiality. This interpretation is deeply informed by process theology, particularly the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, for whom reality is constituted by events of becoming, each shaped by the interplay of novelty and order. Keller adapts this metaphysical vision to the biblical context, portraying God not as an omnipotent sovereign imposing fixed order but as the lure toward relational complexity, beauty, and justice.

Keller’s reading is also shaped by feminist theology, which challenges the association of formlessness and fluidity with disorder, weakness, or femininity. She points out how Western metaphysics has often constructed a binary opposition between the stable, rational, masculine principle and the chaotic, bodily, feminine other. In revaluing the deep, Keller resists this dichotomy, affirming fluidity and openness as integral to the creative process. Her theological poetics embraces ambiguity, multiplicity, and interdependence, refusing the impulse to foreclose meaning in favor of rigid systematic closure. This makes her work not only a reimagining of creation theology but also a critique of the epistemological and political structures that have supported exclusionary forms of order.

Interweaving biblical scholarship with literary and philosophical resources, Keller draws from figures like Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Luce Irigaray to deepen her engagement with the themes of difference, relationality, and becoming. Derrida’s deconstruction informs her resistance to totalizing accounts of creation that erase the traces of the deep; Deleuze’s philosophy of difference and becoming resonates with her portrayal of creation as an open-ended process; Irigaray’s work on sexual difference and the fluid metaphors of feminine subjectivity help Keller reclaim water as a theological symbol beyond domination. These interlocutors allow her to craft a theology that is dialogical and porous, attentive to the limits of human language and the mystery that exceeds conceptual grasp.

The image of the deep also becomes, for Keller, a way to address ecological concerns. She reads tehom as a reminder of the Earth’s watery origins and the interconnectedness of all life. This ecological dimension critiques anthropocentric theologies that view creation solely in terms of human dominion and control. Instead, Keller’s theology invites a posture of humility and reciprocity toward the nonhuman world, recognizing that creation’s flourishing depends on honoring its relational depth. The deep is thus both a cosmic and ecological symbol, encompassing the generative matrix of life and the mystery of its ongoing transformation.

Keller’s approach to Genesis resists the temptation to read the text as a simple blueprint of the universe’s origins. Instead, she treats it as a theological-poetic narrative that speaks to the patterns of God’s relation to the world across time. This hermeneutic opens space for thinking about creation not as a completed past event but as a present and future reality. The Spirit hovering over the deep becomes a figure for God’s continual engagement with the possibilities latent in the world’s depths. This image encourages an eschatology that is not escapist or triumphalist but grounded in the ongoing transformation of the world toward greater justice and beauty.

A significant theological move in Face of the Deep is Keller’s rethinking of divine omnipotence. She challenges the model of God as a unilateral cause who determines all outcomes, instead emphasizing God’s persuasive power. This relational power works through attraction, invitation, and response rather than coercion. Such a vision reframes the problem of evil: if creation is an open process involving real freedom and novelty, then chaos and suffering are not simply defects to be eliminated but conditions of possibility for genuine becoming. God’s role is to draw creation toward its fullest potential, not to override the autonomy of creatures or the generative unpredictability of the deep.

Keller also engages the mystical tradition, particularly the apophatic strand that speaks of God as the ungraspable mystery beyond all names. In this light, the deep becomes a metaphor for the divine unknowability that underlies and sustains all reality. This mystical dimension resonates with her poststructuralist influences, where meaning is never exhausted and reality always exceeds the conceptual frameworks we impose. The interplay of light and darkness in the creation narrative becomes, for Keller, a symbol of the tension between the revealed and the hidden in God’s relation to the world.

Throughout the work, Keller’s style is marked by a poetic and allusive quality that mirrors her subject matter. She refuses to resolve tensions prematurely, instead inviting readers into a contemplative engagement with the text and its theological implications. Her theology is performative as much as propositional, modeling a way of thinking that is itself fluid, relational, and responsive to the deep. This style embodies her conviction that theology must be attentive to the multiplicity and complexity of reality, resisting the impulse to reduce it to a singular, closed system.