This cartoon illustrates why conversation between Old Earth Creationists and Young Earth Creationists is next to impossible. Bible literalists tend to think of the Bible the way Muslims think of the Qu'ran, that is, that it was dictated and copied down word for word as God delivered it. They also tend to be ignorant of the Afro-Asiatic worldview that Genesis represents and the implications of that for proper interpretation of Genesis.
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| From Ted Davis' Seminar Scientific Creationism: Part 1 |
I am currently reading The Lost World of Genesis One by John H. Walton, OT professor at Wheaton College. He argues systematically that Gen 1 tells us nothing about material creation because the ancient worldview was not materialist. Rather, Gen 1 rests on a functionalist worldview. God assigns his creatures roles in the cosmic order, after which he rests in the cosmic temple he has created. Like Margaret Barker, he connects Gen 1 to the tabernacle/temple. Quite unexpected from an Evangelical!
ReplyDeleteWalton's book is very interesting and I agree with him. Genesis 1 is sacral literature. The number seven in Genesis signals priestly material and the priests served at temples and river shrines. The number seven emerges more out of the Mesopotamian-Babylonian context. The older creation story is found in Genesis 2 and it is here that we are led to Genesis 3:15, the first proclamation concerning the "Seed" of God. Genesis isn't about the creation of Earth (since it is already covered with waters) or the origin of biological life. It is about the origin of Messianic expectation among Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors.
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