Genesis 1: A Summary of Interpretations

So maybe I've spent more time looking at that Genesis than the one in the Bible, but that "16 bit power" was amazing, right?

I've said this before, but I had always been bothered by the fact that the Biblical creation accounts just didn't seem to match what I learned in science. Over the last couple of years, it has been my personal mission to learn as much as I could about the Biblical creation accounts and their many interpretations. As a result, I finally feel that I have sifted through enough material to have a firm grasp on the popular views of Genesis that exist.

Below, I will summarize each of the 7 interpretations of Genesis that I have come across in my exploration. Again, I aim to be as objective as possible while presenting these views. It is not my desire to tell the reader what to believe, but instead I hope to inform those who may not have the time and/or desire that I had to go over all of this material. If at any point I should happen to provide false information, misrepresent a view, or seem particularly biased, please leave a comment or send me an email.

View 1: Naturalistic Atheism

Naturalistic Atheism suggests that the formation of our universe can be explained by natural (i.e. scientific) means. According to this view, the universe started with a Big Bang, which eventually resulted in the formation of our Earth, which was then followed by the origin of life and the development of species through evolution. In other words, Naturalistic Atheism says there is no god; therefore, the creation accounts in Bible are to be treated as mere ancient texts containing outdated worldviews.

Side Note: The six remaining views each uphold the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy, which is the belief that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error. This means that these views agree on the inspiration and authority of the Bible and only differ in their interpretation of the text.

View 2: Young-Earth Creationism (YEC)

Young-Earth Creationism (or Recent Creationism) is a popular view among many conservative Christians. This view holds to a straightforward interpretation of the text in Genesis in which the universe was created by God during six literal 24-hour days approximately 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. YEC believes that God used supernatural (i.e. not scientific) means to create and shape the universe into what we observe today.

Side Note: Most people are very familiar with View 1 and View 2 because of the well-publicized feud between Young-Earth Creationists and Naturalistic Atheists. The following views are not as well-known or discussed, but have been popular during various times in history.

View 3: Day Age View (Progressive Creationism)

Progressive Creationism suggests that the six days in Genesis 1 were not 24-hour days, but were really long periods of time during which God supernaturally and gradually performed creative acts according to the order outlined in Genesis 1. The Day Age View notes that the order of creation in Genesis 1 is compatible with the order of events described by current theories in cosmology and geology. Some Progressive Creationists also believe in Theistic Evolution, the idea that God used evolution during the creative process.

View 4: Analogical Days View

This view notes that the Bible often uses familiar language and concepts to describe supernatural events. With this in mind, the Analogical Days viewpoint says that God’s six work days in Genesis 1 are analogous to our human workdays. In this way, the creation accounts both describe God’s creation of the world (in a non-scientific sense) and also establishes the importance of the Sabbath, a day of rest in Hebrew culture.

View 5: Fiat Days View

The Fiat Days view suggests that God spoke the creation commands (or fiats) during six literal 24-hour days; however, the results of these commands may have occurred over long periods of time. The Fiat Days view stresses the fact that God created the world, but it is not concerned with the means by which these commands were carried out. Basically, this interpretation is a conservative mixture of the Young-Earth and Old-Earth viewpoints.

View 6: Framework Interpretation

The Framework Interpretation says that the days and objects in Genesis 1 were chosen for a symbolic reason. Here, Days 1 to 3 represent kingdoms (light, sky and sea, dry land and plants), Days 4 to 6 represent the “kings” of each kingdom (sun and moon, birds and sea creatures, land animals and humans), and Day 7 sets God over all Creations as the King of Kings.

View 7: Cosmic Temple Inauguration

The Cosmic Temple Inauguration view claims that that the Bible was written for everybody but specifically to Ancient Israel. This means that the Bible should be read as a text that has more in common with ancient literature than modern science. This is the view outlined in a book I recently read called The Lost World of Genesis One (you can read a quick summary here). In it, the author proposes that Genesis 1 describes the creation of functions (time, weather, agriculture, etc.) and not matter. This view essentially takes the Framework Interpretation and plugs it into its ancient context.

Conclusion

I suppose View 8 would consist of those people who piece together aspects of all the other views.

And then of course, there are also those people who have View 9 and are either unsure which one they believe, or have not really taken the effort to look into it. It is my hope that this series of blogs will reduce the number of people who consider themselves a part of the View 9 group.

Only Human

I don’t think that a site that publishes new material only once in a six month period can still be considered a blog, so I guess I am hoping to re-establish the “blog” status of this site.

When I really think about it, the main reason I have been neglecting this site is a simple insecurity issue. I just have not felt like I have the authority at this point in my life to play the part of scientist, biblical scholar or philosopher. After all, I’m just a 2nd year graduate student who occasionally reads an English translation of the Bible and likes to think about philosophy in the shower.

But in truth, giving into that insecurity is listening to a lie. I have learned so much about life, science, the Bible, my faith and my research over the last two years that a lack of material to discuss on this site is a poor excuse for my 6-month hiatus. I’ve got a lot that I want to share. I just hope that I have the discipline to keep posting at consistent intervals.

So here’s to shorter, more frequent blogs!

Born to Make Mistakes

So there’s this awful 80s song by The Human League called “Human” that popped into my head when I was sitting down to write this post. And since the goal of this blog is not to discuss the dangers of over-using synthesizers, all I’ll say about this song is that the lyrics mention the fact that all humans make mistakes.

Just for kicks though, I've linked the picture to the video of that song for your listening and viewing pleasure (or displeasure). Be warned that the song will be stuck in your head for weeks.

Anyways, if you have never made a mistake in your life, then just go ahead and stop reading now because the rest of this post will not apply to you. But if you agree with me that humans are fallible beings, then I invite you to continue reading.

As fellow mistake-makers, we all should consider the possibility that some of our beliefs just might contain error. No matter how strong or well-reasoned they might be, no matter how long we have held them, no matter how many people in the world share them, chances are that something we believe in is untrue, incorrect or not real in some fashion.

I wrote a post about belief a while back and I’d like to state it more concisely. There are always going to be others who hold beliefs that are different than our own. Therefore, we owe it to ourselves to truly own our beliefs and to learn what they are, what they mean, and where they came from. Only then we can thoughtfully evaluate the ideas of others with a skepticism that is both respectful and open-minded.

In the next couple of weeks and months, I will finally (I promise) provide a summary of the beliefs that are commonly held when interpreting the first chapters of Genesis. My goal is not to persuade people to believe as I do, but to share what I have learned so that the reader can be aware of the different beliefs that are commonly held about the first book of the Bible.