Alice C. Linsley
Today I take up the second question asked by a reader of Just Genesis. The question is: "Do you believe in a literal 6-day creation?"
What I believe is not important. What matters is what the Scriptures say. Genesis 1 suggests that the seven consecutive days are to be taken as 24-hour days. However, Genesis 2 says that God created everything in a single day. In both creation stories the Hebrew word for day is yom. This word is used in the Bible to mean a 24-hour day or an unspecified duration of time.
The cycles of day and night depend on the rotation of the earth on its axis and its position relative to the sun. According to the creation account in Genesis 1, God created the sun on the fourth day. That means that the Hebrew yom must not be taken in every instance as a fixed period.
While Genesis is a reliable source of anthropological information about the beliefs of the early Hebrew, it is not a scientific text. It emerges from a worldview and must be understood in that context. In that context the number 6 is highly symbolic and the days of creation may not be 24-hour days, as St. Augustine recognized in his The Literal Meaning of Genesis translated and annotated by John Hammond Taylor, S.J. (Newman Press, New York, 1982, Volume I, Book 8, Chapter 2, pp. 35-36.)
St. Augustine held that we should be willing to reconsider our ideas about creation/reality as new information becomes available, but he never entertains the idea that new information might contradict biblical revelation. He is almost unique among the Church Fathers in interpreting the six days of creation in a figurative sense, but as an African he was aware of the figurative quality of sacred story telling among Africans.
St. Augustine explains: "The sacred writer was able to separate in the time of his narrative what God did not separate in time in His creative act." In his view, the six days of creation convey the logical order of and relationship of created things, rather than a passage of time. He wrote, "But in the beginning He created all things together and completed the whole in six days, when six times he brought the 'day' which he made before the things which He made, not in a succession of periods of time but in a plan made known according to causes."
Though most of the other Fathers don't agree with him, they always treat St. Augustine's view with great respect. They recognize that the Hebrew word yom is used elsewhere in the Bible to indicate an unspecified period of time.
The Question of Chronology
While Genesis 1 appears to be a chronological account, detailed study reveals that God was not always doing things that way. For St. Augustine this was so important that he included this in his Christian Instruction, explaining: “In the Scriptures some things are related in such a way that they seem to be following the order of time or occurring in chronological succession, when actually the narrative, without mentioning it, refers to previous events that had been left unmentioned. Unless we understand this distinction, we shall fall into error. For example, we find in Genesis: ‘And the Lord God planted a paradise of pleasure in the east; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.’ This last mentioned event would seem to have occurred after God had made the man and placed him in paradise. After both these facts have been mentioned briefly (that is, that God planted a paradise and there ‘placed man whom He had formed’), the narrative turns back by means of recapitulation and relates what had been planted and that God brought forth out of the ground all manner of trees fair to behold and pleasant to eat of.” (St. Augustine, Christian Instruction 2:36.52)
The Symbolism of the Numbers Six and Three
The number six is significant because it represents the material world. In Jewish mysticism (Kabalah) six pertains to the flesh, reproduction, and the land. Among the early Hebrew, the ruler's 2 firstborn sons by his 2 wives represent a kingdom received, territorial expansion, and alliances for mutual defense.
The number three represents a confederation or a unification. This is why we find 3 sons listed so often in Genesis. Consider these examples of 3-clan confederations:
Gen. 4 - Cain, Abel, Seth
Gen. 4 - Jubal, Jabal, Tubal
Gen. 7 - Ham, Shem, Japheth
Gen. 11 - Haran, Nahor, Abraham
Gen. 22 - Huz, Uz, Buz
The number 6 symbolizes man's dominion over the earth and the fruit of the union of man and wife. There were 6 urns at the wedding in Cana of Galilee where Jesus Christ turned water to wine. The Jews used water from those stone jars for ritual washing. Jesus used the 6 stone jars to bless the wedding party.
Nothing new is created after the 6th day. All of creation is complete and now awaits the 7th day which speaks of the eternal kingdom. The 7th refers to union, as in marriage. Genesis 1 says that God's creative work lasted for 6 days and that God rested from all His work on the 7th day. The number 7 is associated with God at rest (sabbath) and conveys completion or perfection of a relationship between Master and Servant, or between Creator and Creation, or between Husband and Bride.
Related reading: Between Biblical Literalism and Biblical Illiteracy; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 1; The Themes of Genesis 1-3
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5 comments:
"Though most of the other Fathers don't agree with him, they always treat St. Augustine's view with great respect. They recognize that the Hebrew word "yom", meaning "day" is used elsewhere in the Bible to indicate an unspecifified period of time."
This is an interesting point. Generally speaking, in the Orthodox world Augustine is rarely if ever looked to for his theology. The Fathers may have respected him but they definitely chided him (if ever so gently) about his theological work. So I would find it difficult to give him much weight in this area.
It has been awhile, but I also seem to recall someone suggesting that Augustine believed that the earth was created fully formed instantaneously. So while he was against a literal six day creation, he may not have been opposed to it in the way people typically imagine.
I personally think the arguments for or against a particular view of the early chapters of Genesis is best made without reference to Augustine in any more than a passing manner. I think there is good reason why the Orthodox have never put much emphasis on his theology while nonetheless noting his exemplary life.
But that is just me. Thanks for the post.
Augustine belongs to the Church East and West. His Platonism poses a problem for the empirical-materialist West more than the metaphysical East, but is not inconsistent with much of St. Paul's thought, also clearly informed by Plato.
In other words, prejudice against Augustine among the Orthodox is not universal. In fact, some Orthodox point to St. Augustine as a leading proponent of the doctrine of divine illumination. You may read more about that here:
http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2008/05/st-augustine-on-divine-illumination.html
Augustine believed that everything in the universe was created simultaneously by God, a very Platonic view. He is explicit that God did not create over the course of six consecutive 24-hour days. He writes, "The sacred writer was able to separate in the time of his narrative what God did not separate in time in His creative act." In his view, the six days of creation convey the logical order of and relationship of created things, rather than a passage of time. He wrote, "But in the beginning He created all things together and completed the whole in six days, when six times he brought the 'day' which he made before the things which He made, not in a succession of periods of time but in a plan made known according to causes."
Yes Augustine belongs to the Church, which is why I didn't put any East/West distinctions in my post, to keep the reader from making any value laden judgments along that line and not keep the parameters before the schism that occurred centuries later.
Nevertheless, despite your reference to David Bradshaw, I think my original point about the rare use of Augustine theologically in the Church stands. While there might be Orthodox who are prejudiced against Augustine, I don't think this is an issue of prejudice. It seems to me Augustine will need some serious rehabilitation from patristic sources in a number of areas before he is held up as a theological light.
At any rate, I don't have a dog in this fight. The Church recognizes him as a Father and that is that.
I tend to think the days are 24 hours, while at the same not to be taken literally, but in another fashion. The first three days have an evening and a morning even though sun isn't created until Day 4. The light gets separated from the darkness in Day 1, and then again in Day 4. And on Day 7, no mention of the evening and morning at all. Seeing how the evenings and mornings are attached to the days (except for day 7), and one can't logically except a literal evening and morning for three days without a literal sun and moon, it would seem to follow that the days must be a literary device, rather than epochs or 24 hour increments. The definition of "day" in it's true sense isn't 24 hours, but rather the time it takes the sun to go full circuit around the earth. Which isn't really possible for Days 1-3.
Augustine's view is interesting, but I tend to gravitate more towards John Walton's view, where Genesis is referring to God bringing order, structure, stability (perhaps even binary distinctions), to the universe. Rather than an origins story about how the material parts for the house was built, but rather the more meaningful story of how it became our home. If you pay close attention most of Genesis actually spends more time referring to reasons, purposes and roles for the Creation rather than how it is they got there. God is constantly naming things, separating them, giving out blessings and instructions to His creatures.
To me, that's what Genesis 1 is about. The "rest" is not relaxation in the sense that it's the opposite of "work", in the way we think of work. But rather the opposite of "unrest". Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest." ... Which isn't implying that we are going to have a more "leisurely" life, but rather one that's full of order and stability, because we are on the side of the Light, and not of darkness.
P. S, not sure what you mean by God's uncreated light? While I tend to think that the light spoken of wasn't material/physical light, I also don't really think it was referring to God either. Rather it talks about the establishment of time (Day and Night). I'm not sure if God is ever called in the Bible as "day", aside from Daniel who calls God, "the ancient of days", but that's referring to his immortal/everlasting nature.
-Tim
Michael, Most people are not aware of the Eastern Church's debt to Augustine who believed in divine illumination.
http://jandyongenesis.blogspot.com/2008/05/st-augustine-on-divine-illumination.html
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