Labor Day 2019 Another Look: Adam and Eve – A Failure of Vocation What the Bible offers is not a “works contract,” but a covenant of vocation. The vocation in question is that of being a genuine human being, with genuinely human tasks to perform as part of the Creator’s purpose for his world. TheContinue reading “Labor Day 2019 — Another Look: Adam and Eve – A Failure of Vocation”
Category Archives: Genesis: Where It All Begins
Why I Am Not a Young Earth Creationist
WHY I AM NOT A YOUNG EARTH CREATIONIST 1. The Bible Does Not Teach It Genesis 1 (as well as other “creation” texts in the Bible) is not a historical report designed to explain how God created the universe in a scientific sense. Genesis 1 is a creative theological meditation on how God, the KingContinue reading “Why I Am Not a Young Earth Creationist”
Nice Try
The young earth creationists believe that Genesis 1 is “literally” a description of creation. I do not. It is this simple disagreement that is the cornerstone of my objection. I believe that Genesis 1 is a pre-scientific description of Creation intended to accent how Yahweh’s relationship with the world stands in stark contrast to theContinue reading “Nice Try”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (7)
Genesis: Where It All Begins (7) A Wisdom Story The account of Adam and Eve in the garden is a story. It is a story that tells the whole history of Israel in microcosm. It is a story about Israel. Today we will see that this is a wisdom story. The quintessential wisdom book inContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (7)”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (6)
Genesis: Where It All Begins (6) What have we seen thus far in this study? Lesson One: Genesis 1 is an ancient liturgical text, contrasting the good Creator God with the false gods of Babylon, and assuring the Hebrew people that the Creator brings order out of chaos. Lesson Two: The early chapters of GenesisContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (6)”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (5), with Pete Enns
Note from CM: I have wanted to use this piece by Pete, especially its anecdote, for a long time. In the final analysis, I don’t even think it has to do with a Jewish vs. Christian perspective, however. In my opinion, Pete’s Jewish friend is expressing a common sense understanding of the actual material beforeContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (5), with Pete Enns”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (4)
What the Bible offers in the beginning is not a “works contract,” but a covenant of vocation. The vocation in question is that of being a genuine human being, with genuinely human tasks to perform as part of the Creator’s purpose for his world. The main task of this vocation is “image-bearing,” reflecting the Creator’sContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (4)”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (3)
Genesis: Where It All Begins (3) God’s Good Creation Many students of the Bible think that Genesis 1, with its intricate structure, repetition, and the heightened character of its language, may represent an ancient liturgy confessing faith in the Creator God. If it is, then the refrain, repeated seven times, is captured in these verses:Continue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (3)”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (2)
Genesis: Where It All Begins (2) Approaching Genesis and the Bible No one approaches the Bible and just “reads it as it is.” We come with all kinds of assumptions about what kind of a book it is and how we should read it. In this second part of our series, I would like toContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (2)”
Genesis: Where It All Begins (1)
Note from CM: I’d like to devote Tuesdays to some meditations on Genesis for awhile. It has been in studying the Hebrew Bible, and Genesis in particular, that I have come to appreciate a much more “Jewish” sense of the biblical story than much Christian theology acknowledges. N.T. Wright has done the same in theContinue reading “Genesis: Where It All Begins (1)”
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