What Genesis really means in the modern era

Wired.com

The biblical book of Genesis is often at the forefront of discussion about the origin and nature of humankind. But Genesis is poorly understood, even among those educated within the Judeo-Christian civilisation, even among churches, especially those outside the mainstream. 

Scholarly scrutiny of the the language and culture of the biblical world is a relatively new field of study. The mainstream churches have largely kept pace with this, but those who follow Martin Luther and his contemporary rebels in upholding a literal reading of the text have been left floundering.  Those churches that have maintained adherence to the principled traditions of historical Christianity have been open to the light shed on scripture by literary scholarship and so have been able to learn how God's message to humankind is conveyed in the Bible by means of the language and culture of each writer. God inspires the writer to capture theological truths, not  necessarily scientific truths.

A valuable account of how Genesis should be read has been given by the Catholic Archbishop of Singapore, William Goh. In expressing the Catholic viewpoint, his main point is this:

The account of creation is certainly not historical or scientific in today’s terms.  The book of Genesis presents to us two different accounts of the creation story.  It is not concerned with the question of how creation came about.  The author is not interested in physics or the question of evolution.  These are not the questions of the author.  So if we read the creation story to discover some scientific truths with regard to how creation came about, we would be disappointed or worse still, impose on the authors our understanding of how creation came to be.  

Rather, the purpose of the creation story is to reveal to us the theological truths of creation.  They reveal to us who we are, our identity and place in creation, our relationship with God and with the rest of creation.  Most of all, they reveal to us the divine plan of God for humanity, which is to share in His life and love.  But [Genesis] involves taking us into the mystery of God’s creation, evoking wonder; and contemplating His majesty, evoking adoration.

[Therefore], the author does not seek to explain creation.  He is certainly aware that it is contradictory to speak of creation of the sun and moon (Gn 1:14-16) when light was already created on the first day.  (Gen 1:3) Furthermore, how could we speak of the first and subsequent day when sun and moon were only created on the fourth day, a day implying sunrise and sunset?

 The author wants us to know that light is not even dependent on the sun and the moon.  Indeed, if God is the creator of the world, when was darkness created? It seems to pre-exist before creation and so too the water!  “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”  (Gen 1:1f) Clearly, the author is not dealing with the questions of science, the “how” of creation but the “why” of creation.  Science deals with the “how”, theology deals with the “why.” The creation story is meant to lead us to God, the mystery of all mysteries.  

Yet even in the mystery of creation, there is a certain order and contingence. God placed some kind of order in creation itself.  Hence, the author speaks of creation in stages.  There are natural laws in place to protect creation.  The author describes creation as systematically structured around the theme of six days, concluding with the seventh.  Indeed, God is seen to bring order and form into creation gradually, moving from preparation on the first three days to completion in next three where He then created the sun and moon, followed by the birds and fish; and then vegetation and living creatures.  The climax was reached with the creation of human beings, male and female in His image.  (Gn 1:27) Creation therefore has its own natural laws.  Indeed, there can be no science if there is no rationality in the created world.

The question is, where does this order in creation come from?  There must be a Mind controlling and ordering creation.   It cannot be nature itself.  Someone must have put order into creation.  Even for us human beings, where does our reason come from, if not the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God?  In other words, the author wants us to arrive at this truth, that the entire creation is dependent on God.  God is the Reason in creation.  This is why, in the creation account, the world is created by the Word of God. 

Each day of creation is prefaced by the words, “God said …”  The Word is the Logos, the divine reason for creation.  St John speaks of creation as coming from God through Christ.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”  (Jn 1:1-3) St Paul in his letter to the Colossians, wrote of Christ, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  (Col 1:15-17) 

The questions that arise about the nature of humans, questions spurred these days especially by the findings of astrophysics and neuroscience, are only the latest that have been intriguing thinkers for millennia. Over the centuries, Christians battled whatever offended reason but have taken on board may have been useful insights into the human predicament and our relationship with God:

Since the beginning, the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own. Ancient religions and cultures produced many myths concerning origins. Some philosophers have said that everything is God, that the world is God, or that the development of the world is the development of God (Pantheism). Others have said that the world is a necessary emanation arising from God and returning to him. Still others have affirmed the existence of two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, locked, in permanent conflict (Dualism, Manichaeism). According to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the physical world) is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind (Gnosticism). Some admit that the world was made by God, but as by a watch-maker who, once he has made a watch, abandons it to itself (Deism). Finally, others reject any transcendent origin for the world, but see it as merely the interplay of matter that has always existed (Materialism). All these attempts bear witness to the permanence and universality of the question of origins. This inquiry is distinctively human. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #285) 

As to the scientific studies of the modern era:

The great interest accorded to these studies is strongly stimulated by a question of another order, which goes beyond the proper domain of the natural sciences. It is not only a question of knowing when and how the universe arose physically, or when man appeared, but rather of discovering the meaning of such an origin: is the universe governed by chance, blind fate, anonymous necessity, or by a transcendent, intelligent and good Being called "God"? And if the world does come from God's wisdom and goodness, why is there evil? Where does it come from? Who is responsible for it? Is there any liberation from it? (284)

Such matters are not to be passed over lightly, because they give rise to the basic questions that people throughout history have asked themselves: 

"Where do we come from?" "Where are we going?" "What is our origin?" "What is our end?" "Where does everything that exists come from and where is it going?" The two questions, the first about the origin and the second about the end, are inseparable. They are decisive for the meaning and orientation of our life and actions. (282)

NOTE: Archbishop Goh's reflections are not archived. His latest are at this website: https://www.catholic.sg/archbishop/scripture-reflection/