A Biblical Theology of Creation
A biblical theology of Creation is summarized in the four basics of reality contained in Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning," "God," "created," and "the heavens and the earth."
A biblical theology of Creation is summarized in the four basics of reality contained in Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning," "God," "created," and "the heavens and the earth."
The complex and vitally essential ecology and biodiversity we find in nature today, at the top of the structural hierarchy of nature, suggest that many interacting organisms would have been required right from the beginning. Only a short-term creation would provide such ecosystem requirements.
Literature Reviews
A review of the book, Creation Compromises. Published in Origins v. 23, n. 1.
A structural study of Genesis chapters 2 and 3 reveals the presence of a chiasm in the narrative and strongly suggests the unity of the story as argued by scholars.
The question of whether the six days of creation were actual 24-hour periods of time or only symbolic representations of millions of years has been debated for centuries. During the past century and a half, with recognition of the theory of evolution and its vast eons of time, the matter has been under more serious scrutiny. Published in Origins v. 21, n. 1.
This study addresses the problem that is presented by the common literary critical appraoch to the two creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2. Published in Origins v. 16, n. 2.
One day a minister said to me, "There seems to be a contradiction between chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. Chapter 1 tells us that God created the animals first and then created man, but chapter 2 says that God created man before the animals. How do you ex plain this difficult problem?"
The first two chapters of the Bible deal directly with the question of human sexuality. Not only is human sexuality presented as a basic fact of creation, but an elucidation of the nature of sexuality constitutes a central part of the Creation accounts.
The translation of 1781 as the preposition "with" removes the anomaly of the stars being created on the fourth day of the creation week. It follows that the issue of the creation of the stars is not necessarily a specific topic within the horizon of the creation pericope of Gen 1:1-2:4a.
A review of the book, The Genesis Debate. Several questions regrding interprations of Genesis 1-11 are addressed, with both Yes and No responses representing different points of view. Published in Origins v. 14, n. 1.
Throughout the Old Testament the phrase, "the heavens and the earth," is used as the nearest Hebrew equivalent to our term, "universe."
I hope to illustrate how an approach that attends to the culture, history, philosophy and religion of the Bible's time and place can enhance our understanding of its message.
The way we perceive God, the way we look at the world around us, and the way we understand our own selves all have their roots in the opening verse of Scripture: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Does the word "earth" refer a) to the physical material of the earth; b) to the planet earth as a part of our solar system; c) to our earth in the sense of the land upon which life can exist? We will address this question very briefly by reviewing four problems. Published in Origins v. 8, n. 1.
The Documentary hypothesis and the so-called Tatbericht-Wortbericht theory have been the two main starting points of any relevant scholarly study of this text. Recently, under the influence of contemporary literary studies, attention has been drawn to the validity of the synchronic approach, and more and more scholars have thus become aware of the importance of the literary structure of this text.
There is a distinct "name" theology involved in the distribution of the different names used for God in Genesis 1 and 2. The author who composed these two narratives as part of a larger whole wished to say something specific about God by using these names this way. Published in Origins v. 5, n. 1.
The first three chapters of Genesis are of crucial importance for both the origins of our world and for determining relationships between man and woman. Without these chapters, any understanding of the mutuality between man and woman is impaired and one-sided.