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.

A review of the book, In the Beginning. The book attempts to explain Genesis from a naturalistic perspective, and his bias shows clearly. Published in Origins v. 13, n. 2.

Throughout the Old Testament the phrase, "the heavens and the earth," is used as the nearest Hebrew equivalent to our term, "universe."

From the parallels in form and content between Creation-Flood stories, is is more likely that someone (i.e., Moses) recorded such a work in the 15th century B.C. rather to attribute them to a collection of fragments that were distributed through the first half of the first millenium B.C. Published in Origins v. 11, n. 1.

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.

Analysis of the literary structure of the Flood narrative shows that it is the product of a single author, and not a compilation from various sources. Published in Origins v. 6, 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.

The account of the flood as given in Genesis is brief, and many different interpretations have been given to the events described therin. Three expressions used in that narrative will be analyzed below in an attempt to show their original meaning. Published in Origins v. 5, n. 2.

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.

Since the recovery and publication of texts from the Ancient Near East is a continuing endeavor, the materials already published need to be reexamined from time to time in the light of more recent information.

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.

There are two conflicting schools of interpretation regarding the extent of the Genesis flood. Traditionally the Biblical flood narrative has been understood to refer to a universal catastrophe, but on the basis of considerations from the natural sciences, commentators and interpreters began to seek for a limited flood theory or relative view of the Genesis flood. Published in Origins v. 2, n. 2.

A review of the books Noah's Ark: Fact or Fable?and The Ark File. Legends and stories of the ark on Mt. Ararat have not been confirmed. One must be careful not to be so eager to find the ark that one does not carefully check the evidence. Published in Origins v. 2, n. 2.

Scripture gives the Christian scientist a foundation from which to begin his exploration of how the forces of evil reshaped a world created perfect. Published in Origins v. 2, n. 1.

The words "burst forth" correspond to the words "were opened" and the expression "the fountains of the great deep" corresponds to the "windows of the heavens." This chiastic parallelism indicates that the waters below the ground came forth as the waters above the ground broke loose. Published in Origins v. 1, n. 2.