Related Articles

Show All Topics

Adventists and the Good Earth

If we take the view that we are transients in an alien community, then our interest in the long-term welfare of the community will tend to be limited. If we see ourselves as fully embedded in a complex web of life, as an integral part of God's creation, and as responsible stewards of that creation, then our response to challenges such as the environmental issue will take on a distinctly different character.

Download PDF

Progressive Creation and Biblical Revelation: Some Theological Implications

The purpose of this essay is to examine the intellectual roots and the current status of the discussion concerning progressive creationism and to identify and evaluate eight theological implications of affirming the presence of death for millions of years prior to the appearance of humans in the geologic column. Published in Origins v. 18, n. 2.

Read More

Environmental Education: Teaching Stewardship to College Students

Adventist colleges have long promoted a wholistic education. For this reason they have been committed to combining liberal arts and ethics. Including environmental education in this curriculum can make a significant contribution to shaping the sensitivities of young Christians.

Download PDF

The Antediluvians

Genesis 3-6 tells of the experiences of some of the earliest members of the human race. Form an evolutionary approach to biology, geology, or biblical studies, the "antediluvians" cannot be historical figures. A more direct reading of the biblical text, on the other hand, indicates that the author of these narratives and lists understood them to be historical individuals. Published in Origins v. 18, n. 1.

Read More

Flood Stories

Cultural legends of a prehistoric global flood are found throughout the world. The frequency and widespread nature of these stories imply an actual historical event as their basis. Published in Origins v 17, n. 2.

Read More

Order and Chance in Nature and Scripture: Towards a Basis for Constructive Dialog

In this essay I have attempted to outline the world as it is, reality as it is perceived through the lens of science and scripture in terms of the concepts of order and chance.

Download PDF

Literary Structural Parallels Between Genesis 1 and 2

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.

Read More

Does Genesis 2 Contradict Genesis 1?

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?"

Read Article

The Successive, Corresponding Epochal Arrangement of the ‘Chronogenealogies’ of Genesis 5 and 11B in the Three Textual Traditions: LXXA, SP, and MT

The prepaternal data of Gen 5 and 11b were found to be artificial and unilaterally derivative; LXXA contained data which SP rearranged and the highly schematized MT later drew upon both LXXA and SP for its arrangement.

Download PDF

The Theology of Sexuality in the Beginning: Genesis 3

The creation accounts (Gen 1-2) coupled with the portrayal of disruption and divine judgment presented in Gen 3 have been described as of seminal character and determinative for a biblical theology of human sexuality.

Download PDF

The Theology of Sexuality in the Beginning: Genesis 1-2

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.

Download PDF

Some Notes on Translating Genesis 1:16

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.

Download PDF

Two Sides of Several Questions

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.

Read More

A Scientist’s Attempt to Play Theologian

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.

Read More

Beyond Arithmetic: the Truth of Creation

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

Download PDF

How Accurate is Biblical Chronology?

Thiele discovered an underlying harmony in the Biblical records that is not only internal but external as well. Once he solved these apparent discrepancies in the Biblical data, he found that the reigns of the Jewish kings matched the Assyrian chronology perfectly.

Read Article

A Comparison of Narrative Elements in Ancient Mesopotamian Creation-Flood Stories with Genesis 1-9

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.

Read More

Let the Wilderness be Glad?: The Apocalypse and the Environment

Because we are promised an earth made new, do we have the right to hasten the death of this one? In the years since college my questions have become more acute as I have learned about specific threats to the environment.

Download PDF

Genesis One in Historical-critical Perspective

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.

Download PDF

The Genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11: A Statistical Study

The numerical ages of the partriarchs listed in Genesis 5 and 11 seem nonrandom, as though they were recorded in some kind of preferred pattern. This suggests the figures should not be used to estimate chronology before the time of Abraham. Published in Origins v. 9, n. 2.

Read More