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Q.
How do we reconcile the two different “creation stories”?
One has to wonder how differently the story might read if written by
women. Maybe our penance would be lifting heavy things for all eternity and
suffering the consequences of never asking directions.
Becky Garrison
A.
According to Francis Collins, Director of the National Institute of
Health, “Despite twenty-fi ve centuries of debate, it is fair to say
that no human knows what the meaning of Genesis 1 and 2 was
precisely intended to be.” At the risk of doing a major disservice to centuries
of biblical criticism, one can say that obtaining empirical evidence from a book
including, but not limited to, narrative, poetry, epistle, apocalyptic literature,
and legal texts clearly misses the meaning behind these messages.
Simon Conway Morris, professor of earth sciences at Cambridge Univer-
sity, is right when he proclaims, “I think if you try and make the Bible into a
quasi-scientifi c document, you’re doing it great disservice, if not violence. And
you’re also distorting, if not maligning, science, which is an attempt to under-
stand the world as we see it.”
New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop N. T. Wright adds this theo-
logical tidbit: “The Bible isn’t there simply to be an accurate reference point for
people who want to look things up and be sure they got them right. It is there
to equip people to carry forth [God’s] purposes of new covenant and new
creation.”
Scriptural References
Genesis 1—2; Job 38, 39; Psalm 19:1–6
Suggested Additional Sources for Reading
- Francisco J. Ayala, Darwin and Intelligent Design (Fortress Press, 2006).
- Marcus J. Borg, Reading the Bible again for the First Time: Taking the Bible
Seriously but Not Literally (Harper San Francisco, 2002), especially chap. 4,
“Reading the Creation Stories Again.” - Francis S. Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for
Belief (Free Press, 2007). - Becky Garrison’s selection was adapted from her book The New Atheist
Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith
(Thomas Nelson, 2008). - Stephen W. Hawking, The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the
Universe (Jaico Publishing House, 2007). - Kenneth R. Miller, Finding Darwin’s God (Harper Perennial, 2007).