Interpreting the two Genesis creation myths
The Biblical Stories of Origins
“What meaning do these texts have for a Christian theology today? As a theologian concerned about the doctrine of creation, I affirm that they do indeed have a great deal of meaning. But it is essential to distinguish between what has revelatory significance and what does not. The Second Vatican Council offered a fundamental criterion for interpreting the Bible when it pointed to the revelatory significance of the “truth for our salvation” [Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), 11.] that is found in the biblical text. In reading the two Genesis accounts, it is helpful to distinguish the salvific truths they contain from the order of events of these stories and from the understanding of the physical universe that they take for granted. The salvific truths have revelatory significance for Christian theology today, but the historical order of events and the cosmology of the ancient world do not.
“What meaning do these texts have for a Christian theology today? As a theologian concerned about the doctrine of creation, I affirm that they do indeed have a great deal of meaning. But it is essential to distinguish between what has revelatory significance and what does not. The Second Vatican Council offered a fundamental criterion for interpreting the Bible when it pointed to the revelatory significance of the “truth for our salvation” [Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), 11.] that is found in the biblical text. In reading the two Genesis accounts, it is helpful to distinguish the salvific truths they contain from the order of events of these stories and from the understanding of the physical universe that they take for granted. The salvific truths have revelatory significance for Christian theology today, but the historical order of events and the cosmology of the ancient world do not.
“With regard to the order of events, it is essential to recognise that these stories are not an alternative to a contemporary scientific account. The biblical narratives are not authoritative in the area of the history of the early universe or the history of life on Earth. It is perfectly clear that the literary form of the first creation story is an artificial and pedagogical construct, aimed at teaching theological truth. The placing of human beings at the climax of the story and the placing of the Sabbath at the end indicates the importance of the dignity of the human before God, and the importance of the Sabbath as a sign of God’s covenant blessing. The literary form of the second account is that of an ancient myth of origin. It has a completely different order of events from the first account. While in the first account God creates simply by divine word, in the second God forms creatures like a potter, a gardener, and a surgeon. These two different accounts exist side by side, without embarrassment, and without any attempt to harmonise them. The point of the biblical stories is not the order of events or the time frame. In these primeval narratives, religious meaning is not attached to the historical order in which things occur, but to the theological insights that the narratives encapsulate. It is these theological insights that have significance for a Christian theology of creation.
“In a similar way, the view of the natural world, or the cosmology, of these stories is not to be understood as authoritative for Christians today. The ancient peoples saw the inhabited world as emerging from and as completely surrounded by the “abyss” (Gn 1:2) of the primeval ocean. God creates a huge dome to separate the waters above us from the waters below us (Gn 1:7). At certain times, gates in the dome of the sky are opened, so that the water above us can come through to fall as rain on the ground. The water below us springs forth as fountains and rivers. God gathers the waters below the dome into a great basin, with the result that the sea is contained in the basin, while the dry land is safely separated from it (Gn 1:9). God attaches to the dome of the sky the great lights, the sun for the day, and the moon and stars for the night. A similar worldview was shared by many peoples in the ancient world. Needless to say, this is not the picture presented by science today. Again, it is important to affirm that a Christian of today can best learn about the evolutionary unfolding of the universe from science rather than from the Bible. The cosmology assumed by the biblical authors does not have authority for a Christian today. What has authority for today’s Christian theology are the theological insights contained in the biblical narratives.
“What, then, are these religious insights? It must be admitted that mythic narratives like those that open the Book of Genesis can say far more than can be put into propositional language. But, granted this, I would include the following among the “salvific truths” that I find communicated in these creation narratives:
● the pre-existence and transcendence of God over all creatures;
● the ongoing relationship of all things to God as creatures to their Creator;
● God’s delight in creatures;
● the divine proclamation of the goodness of creation;
● the blessing that makes creation fecund;
● the creation of human beings in the image of God;
● the call of the human being to work with creation but also to take care of it as God cares for it;
● the social nature of the human person;
● the insight that male and female represent the divine image;
● the goodness of human sexuality and marriage;
● the reality of human sinful rebellion against God, bringing alienation from God, from other human
beings, and from creation itself;
● the enduring divine promise of salvation.
“I regard these teachings of Genesis as a deep and profound heritage of the Jewish and the Christian communities. This is theological “truth for our salvation.”…There is every reason for a Christian of today to embrace both the theological teachings of Genesis and the theory of evolution.”
Discussion questions
Dividing students into groups they discuss one of the following questions and share their ideas with the class on the digital bulletin board app. called Padlet. Groups are then "reshuffled" and each member takes on one of De Bono's hats and evaluates the responses to the original questions. The blue hat or metacognitive speaker from each group communicates the groups' ideas to the class.
1. To what extent is the view expressed above a problem for a Christian?
2. How would you respond to someone who believed God created the world in six days?
3. The "evolution" of interpretation of the Genesis creation story has moved from literal to fictional. How do we balance the fictional and the factual in our own lives?
Source: Edwards, Denis (1999). The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology. New York: Paulist Press, pp. 10-13.