Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Creative Thoughts on Genesis

I tried to start my new devotional last night, but I got to caught up in the passage I was reading to do the work that I was supposed to do.

After teaching on Genesis for 7 months in the last year and a half, as well as having questions about it in another Bible study I am reading, I am thinking more and more about how the original authors intended us to understand the book.

A couple of months ago, I encountered a person who struggled to believe in Christ based purely on the story in Genesis. This person is a literal thinker, and not highly intellectual. However, they had a hard time understanding how God could "walk with Adam" in the cool of the evening and be God at the same time.

As I read Genesis generally, I try to stay focused on the story. The story of sin and redemption, and of struggle and hope. However, the more I read the beginning part of Genesis, the more I keep noticing mythological language. Which tells me maybe some things are written with the understanding that we are not to take things quite as literally. Thus, the question of orgins may have a new frontier. The debate may not be so much about an argument about what to teach in schools, but about what the text really says in and of itself. I think an argument can be made that the text itself leads us to believe in an interpretative framework that looks a little different than historical development. Maybe that is why Genesis is in the Torah instead of the Historical Books.

Anyway...something I am thinking about......

1 comment:

Jason Bowker said...

The school is not affiliated with any church or denomination. They are actually quite opposite to Mark Driscoll's Mars Hill Bible Church which is staunch Calvinist. They are closer in theology to Rob Bell's Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. Rob recommends Mars Hill Grad School to people in his congregation, but they are not affiliated in any way.

Book Review of Little Prayers for Ordinary Days by Katy Bowser Hutson, Flo Paris Oaks, and Tish Harrison Warren and illustrated by Liita Forsyth

Little Prayers for Ordinary Days by Katie Bowser Hutson, Flo Paris Oakes, and Tish Harrison Warren IVP Kids ISBN 978-1-5140-0039-8 Reviewed ...