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Since the Beginning: Interpreting Genesis 1 and 2 through the Ages
Few passages in the Hebrew Bible have been subject to more scrutiny than Genesis 1 and 2. In this volume, a diverse international team of experts guides readers through interpretations of the Genesis creation stories throughout history, inviting them to consider perspectives from the earliest times to the present. The book offers an accurate description of how these chapters have been read through the centuries, explaining each interpretive approach in its own terms. Each chapter includes sidebars and suggestions for further reading.
336 pages, Paperback
Published September 4, 2018
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May 20, 2020
This collection of essays, edited by Kyle Greenwood offers readers historical perspective on how the early chapters of Genesis have been understood. This is no small task, and almost certainly needed to be a group effort. Very few individuals would be qualified to discuss in detail the history of interpretation of a given passage, much less chapters like Genesis 1-2.
In Since The Beginning, which I was able to read thanks to Baker Academic, each of the 10 authors is tasked with addressing four specific interpretive issues. These are relative to the historical era they are highlighting, and are as follows:
Days of creation
Cosmology
Creation and nature of humanity
Garden of Eden
Each chapter offers a summary statement and suggestions for further reading, making this an excellent resource for an extended study of the history of interpretation.
The book begins with Greenwood’s essay on the Old Testament “reverberations” of Genesis 1-2. Before getting to the chapter on New Testament, there is an essay on Second Temple Jewish readings of Genesis 1-2. After the New Testament chapter, there is an essay on early rabbinic interpretations. This serves as a healthy reminder that when we think of Genesis 1-2 (or any part of the Old Testament), we (meaning Christians) are not the only interested interpreters.
The next five chapters take us through the history of interpretation, starting with the early church fathers in chapter 5. The latter church fathers are covered in chapter 6, while chapters 7 and 8 look at medieval interpretations. There are two so that the Jewish perspective in the middle ages can be included. Chapter 9 then looks at Reformation era readings of Genesis 1-2.
The final two chapters skip ahead historically into more contemporary concerns. First, there is a chapter on the impact that ancient Near East (ANE) discoveries have had on reading these Genesis 1-2. Then, there is a chapter on reading in a post-Darwinian era. One could argue we shouldn’t re-read Genesis 1-2 in light of the rise of Darwinian evolution. However, as one reads the previous chapters, it is rather obvious there is not a monolithic understanding of Genesis 1-2 that was somehow toppled by the science of our day.
On the other hand, one should bear in mind that the history of interpretation doesn’t determine the “right” way to take a given passage. This is part of the tension of being part of a religious tradition that is “reformed and always reforming.” A passage always having been understood a certain way doesn’t mean it has to always be read that way moving forward. The corollary is that a new interpretation is not necessarily wrong.
In a sense then, both the revisionist accounts that want to read Genesis 1-2 in light of ANE comparative studies and evolution as well as young earth creationist readings are “new” readings. There is perhaps more of a precedence for the latter, but it is hardly the standard accepted reading across the history of the church.
Reading Genesis 1-2 in light of science is a very modern approach, regardless of whether one is reading to confirm the young earth creationist account or reconcile the text with Darwinian evolution. I would suggest both of those readings may miss the literal meaning of the text, and an historical survey like this can serve as a good explanation why.
[Note: I was able to read this book because the publisher sent me a copy and I originally posted this on my personal blog]
In Since The Beginning, which I was able to read thanks to Baker Academic, each of the 10 authors is tasked with addressing four specific interpretive issues. These are relative to the historical era they are highlighting, and are as follows:
Days of creation
Cosmology
Creation and nature of humanity
Garden of Eden
Each chapter offers a summary statement and suggestions for further reading, making this an excellent resource for an extended study of the history of interpretation.
The book begins with Greenwood’s essay on the Old Testament “reverberations” of Genesis 1-2. Before getting to the chapter on New Testament, there is an essay on Second Temple Jewish readings of Genesis 1-2. After the New Testament chapter, there is an essay on early rabbinic interpretations. This serves as a healthy reminder that when we think of Genesis 1-2 (or any part of the Old Testament), we (meaning Christians) are not the only interested interpreters.
The next five chapters take us through the history of interpretation, starting with the early church fathers in chapter 5. The latter church fathers are covered in chapter 6, while chapters 7 and 8 look at medieval interpretations. There are two so that the Jewish perspective in the middle ages can be included. Chapter 9 then looks at Reformation era readings of Genesis 1-2.
The final two chapters skip ahead historically into more contemporary concerns. First, there is a chapter on the impact that ancient Near East (ANE) discoveries have had on reading these Genesis 1-2. Then, there is a chapter on reading in a post-Darwinian era. One could argue we shouldn’t re-read Genesis 1-2 in light of the rise of Darwinian evolution. However, as one reads the previous chapters, it is rather obvious there is not a monolithic understanding of Genesis 1-2 that was somehow toppled by the science of our day.
On the other hand, one should bear in mind that the history of interpretation doesn’t determine the “right” way to take a given passage. This is part of the tension of being part of a religious tradition that is “reformed and always reforming.” A passage always having been understood a certain way doesn’t mean it has to always be read that way moving forward. The corollary is that a new interpretation is not necessarily wrong.
In a sense then, both the revisionist accounts that want to read Genesis 1-2 in light of ANE comparative studies and evolution as well as young earth creationist readings are “new” readings. There is perhaps more of a precedence for the latter, but it is hardly the standard accepted reading across the history of the church.
Reading Genesis 1-2 in light of science is a very modern approach, regardless of whether one is reading to confirm the young earth creationist account or reconcile the text with Darwinian evolution. I would suggest both of those readings may miss the literal meaning of the text, and an historical survey like this can serve as a good explanation why.
[Note: I was able to read this book because the publisher sent me a copy and I originally posted this on my personal blog]
November 15, 2018
The word "Genesis" means origin or beginning. It addresses questions about the origin of all things and the way the world was made. It is where history all begun. With the texts clearly written in Genesis 1 and 2, one might think the matter is resolved. Not really. There are different interpretations that demand attention. Even the word "literal" could have different meanings. In this book, we learn about attentive listening to these different perspectives. The purpose is to broaden our space for conversation so that we can better understand the texts and the nuances that come with them. The different views are provided by ten different scholars, each of them experts in the field they teach. There are both Jewish and Christian scholars and theologians. There are historians and Early Church teachers. The authors are also drawn from different denominations and faith backgrounds to give the book an ecumenical look and feel. A key observation is that many modern readers interpret Gen 1 and 2 from a modernistic perspective, and pay scant attention to how the early readers and listeners' understanding. In other words, our modern interpretations are biased toward our understanding instead of the original meaning. In order to establish a common framework for discussion, the four "explicit issues" are:
How 'days' are treated
Cosmology
Creation and nature of humanity
Garden of Eden
Kyle Greenwood looks at the chronological movements of interpretation beginning with the Old Testament itself. On the Old Testament, he notes that the biblical authors do not follow a consistent style, using both literal and rhetorical methods where appropriate. The cosmology used are familiar to ancient near east contexts. Michael Matlock offers a second temple Jewish perspective, using the Septuagint (LXX); the Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha; Qumran; and Hellenistic texts as sources. Here, Hellenistic ideas greatly influenced the interpretations at that time. There are highly developed understanding of angelology; allegory; and even the notion that Adam and Eve only had sex outside of the Garden of Eden because Eden was holy. Ira Brent Driggers uses New Testament eyes to see from both Jewish and Gentile eyes. The main focus is on the Person of Jesus and how the Genesis texts reveal Christ. Joel Allen of Hebrew Union College gives an early rabbinic perspective based on sources from Jewish commentary, the Midrash Rabbah. This approach takes the best of eisegesis, exegesis, and "performative." Stephen O Presley looks at the Genesis texts from the Ante-Nicene Fathers' point of view. He notes that the early theologians claim to have new revelation for understanding stories of creation. Most notable of all was their "hermeneutical humility" to be open and not to be dogmatic about their own interpretations. Yet, this opens them up to a world of imagery that allows the to move freely through both literal as well as spiritual interpretations. According to C Rebecca Rine, the later patristic fathers (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers) take the intrepretation further toward "transformation" and expect Scriptures to touch and form readers. One thing we appreciate is that these patristic theologians do not simply see the biblical texts allegorically. They are serious exegetes too. They also taught us how to ask question of the texts, that we may conduct ourselves well. Jason Kalman helps us see the texts from the viewpoints of medieval Jewish commentators while Timothy Bellamah assists us with the medieval Christian interpretations. Jennifer Powell McNutt provides a Protestant Reformers' perspective that stresses the need for literal interpretation. David Tsumura adopts an interpretive window from the ancient near east primary sources to do a "contextual, comparative, and contrastive" angle. Finally, Aaron T. Smith gives us a "Post-Darwinian interpretation" that brings in evolutionary biology perspective.
This book is an arsenal of perspectives that blows away any one-sided view of Genesis 1-2. It brings together a chronological and historical flow of interpretations to show us the rich dimensions each era has. Sometimes, modern readers tend to be stuck on just a modernist point of view and ignore the valuable insights available from their predecessors. Christians sometimes are stuck between two broad views: Literal and the non-literal. With this anthology of viewpoints, it would be wise to be "hermeneutically humble" and learn. After all, despite the wealth of knowledge and information, modern interpreters are furthest in terms of time and context from the actual creation accounts. By understanding the different views, we also get to piece together the various accounts so as to gather a bigger picture of the mysteries and questions surrounding the Genesis accounts. There is no one size fits all interpretation. Thus, the next best thing is to learn and to let each era inform our understanding. We may not necessarily agree but there is no harm in recognizing the alternative views that help us appreciate the diligence and hard work others had put in to clarify the texts. At the end of the day, we need to remember to let Scripture be authoritative and be less dogmatic about our own positions. When that happens, we can have better conversations and dialogues to keep us open to newer perspectives that may come not only from the past but also in the future.
Kyle Greenwood is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew Language at Colorado Christian University.
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
How 'days' are treated
Cosmology
Creation and nature of humanity
Garden of Eden
Kyle Greenwood looks at the chronological movements of interpretation beginning with the Old Testament itself. On the Old Testament, he notes that the biblical authors do not follow a consistent style, using both literal and rhetorical methods where appropriate. The cosmology used are familiar to ancient near east contexts. Michael Matlock offers a second temple Jewish perspective, using the Septuagint (LXX); the Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha; Qumran; and Hellenistic texts as sources. Here, Hellenistic ideas greatly influenced the interpretations at that time. There are highly developed understanding of angelology; allegory; and even the notion that Adam and Eve only had sex outside of the Garden of Eden because Eden was holy. Ira Brent Driggers uses New Testament eyes to see from both Jewish and Gentile eyes. The main focus is on the Person of Jesus and how the Genesis texts reveal Christ. Joel Allen of Hebrew Union College gives an early rabbinic perspective based on sources from Jewish commentary, the Midrash Rabbah. This approach takes the best of eisegesis, exegesis, and "performative." Stephen O Presley looks at the Genesis texts from the Ante-Nicene Fathers' point of view. He notes that the early theologians claim to have new revelation for understanding stories of creation. Most notable of all was their "hermeneutical humility" to be open and not to be dogmatic about their own interpretations. Yet, this opens them up to a world of imagery that allows the to move freely through both literal as well as spiritual interpretations. According to C Rebecca Rine, the later patristic fathers (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers) take the intrepretation further toward "transformation" and expect Scriptures to touch and form readers. One thing we appreciate is that these patristic theologians do not simply see the biblical texts allegorically. They are serious exegetes too. They also taught us how to ask question of the texts, that we may conduct ourselves well. Jason Kalman helps us see the texts from the viewpoints of medieval Jewish commentators while Timothy Bellamah assists us with the medieval Christian interpretations. Jennifer Powell McNutt provides a Protestant Reformers' perspective that stresses the need for literal interpretation. David Tsumura adopts an interpretive window from the ancient near east primary sources to do a "contextual, comparative, and contrastive" angle. Finally, Aaron T. Smith gives us a "Post-Darwinian interpretation" that brings in evolutionary biology perspective.
This book is an arsenal of perspectives that blows away any one-sided view of Genesis 1-2. It brings together a chronological and historical flow of interpretations to show us the rich dimensions each era has. Sometimes, modern readers tend to be stuck on just a modernist point of view and ignore the valuable insights available from their predecessors. Christians sometimes are stuck between two broad views: Literal and the non-literal. With this anthology of viewpoints, it would be wise to be "hermeneutically humble" and learn. After all, despite the wealth of knowledge and information, modern interpreters are furthest in terms of time and context from the actual creation accounts. By understanding the different views, we also get to piece together the various accounts so as to gather a bigger picture of the mysteries and questions surrounding the Genesis accounts. There is no one size fits all interpretation. Thus, the next best thing is to learn and to let each era inform our understanding. We may not necessarily agree but there is no harm in recognizing the alternative views that help us appreciate the diligence and hard work others had put in to clarify the texts. At the end of the day, we need to remember to let Scripture be authoritative and be less dogmatic about our own positions. When that happens, we can have better conversations and dialogues to keep us open to newer perspectives that may come not only from the past but also in the future.
Kyle Greenwood is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew Language at Colorado Christian University.
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
March 10, 2024
The Preface reminds us that it’s common for people to assume Genesis 1-2 has always been interpreted the way they interpret it and that throughout the ages, people have been interested in the same questions about origins and humanity. This is not the case and this book looks at how people throughout the millennia have thought about four specific issues: “1. Treatment of days; 2. Cosmology; 3. Creation and nature of humanity; and 4. Garden of Eden.” p.xxi. Each chapter was written by a different author and examines the various thoughts and interpretations in the time period specified.
Chapter 1: Old Testament Reverberations of Genesis 1-2 by Kyle R. Greenwood
This chapter examines the Old Testament passages that mention or reflect the four specific topics of interest in this book. Greenwood shows that the themes of Genesis 1-2 “permeate the entire OT canon,” but the “biblical authors were not compelled to articulate the themes in a consistent manner.” p.21.
Chapter 2: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 in Second Temple Jewish Literature by Michael D. Matlock
Chapter 2 surveys writings from the Second Temple Period (approximately 516 BCE – 70 CE) related to the four aspects of Genesis 1-2 that are being studied in this book. “These Second Temple Jewish interpretations of Gen 1-2 offer quite a diversity of thought in how one should comprehend the creation accounts. Apart from the sectarian writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hellenization has played an essential ingredient in the mixture of thought in these Jewish writings.” p.41.
Chapter 3: New Testament Appropriations of Genesis 1-2 by Ira Brent Driggers
Driggers looks at the treatment of the four topics from Genesis 1-2 in the books of the New Testaments. “The NT writers do not engage Genesis … as a way to preserve its ‘original’ meaning, much less to verify the historicity of the past people and events, but rather they draw out the implications of the central Christian claims that Jesus Christ is risen Lord. Thus the diverse ways in which the NT appropriates Gen. 1-2 are a function of the diversity inherent in the NT itself.” pp. 73-74.
Chapter 4: Early Rabbinic Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Joel S. Allen
After the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the study of the Torah replaced the Temple as the seat of worship. During the period from ~70 CE – 500 CE, literature such as Genesis Rabbah, rabbinic midrash, Halakah, and haggadah captured rabbinic thoughts on Genesis 1-2 during this time period. “Although early rabbis and the literature they produced engage Scripture from a radically different set of assumptions and interests than these that drive modern Christian hermeneutics, they provide an important link to the Jewish roots of the Christian Faith.” p94. “A student of the Christian faith can hardly ignore this world of interpretive insight and theological reflection; it is the very soil from which the tree of Christian faith has sprung.” p95.
Chapter 5: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Ante-Nicene Fathers by Stephen O. Presley
“This chapter will consider the early Christian interpretations of Gen. 1-2 in the pre-Nicene context (before 325 CE), from the earliest days of the postapostolic period to the end of the third century.” p98. “When these fathers of the church interpret Gen. 1-2, they bring with them several hermeneutical assumptions, including a posture of humility toward cosmological questions, a defense of the antiquity and authority of the Mosaic account of creation, and a balance of literal and spiritual senses of Scripture.” p118. “The unity and diversity of these interpretations of Gen. 1-2 in the early church set a trajectory of interpretation that continues to influence the rest of the Christian tradition.” p118.
Chapter 6: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers by C. Rebecca Rine
“For the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers, the beginning of Genesis holds great promise – and great peril. The promise of these chapters lies in their weighty subject matter, their depictions of divine action, their surprising turns of phrases, and their intimations regarding human origins. Their peril, however, lies in their susceptibility to critique from a number of quarters, due to either what they say or fail to say.” p143. “Students of patristic teaching must sift through multiple perspectives, evaluate conflicting claims, consider the import of wording and context, and discern underlying relationships that may or may not appear on the surface. In doing so, they may find that the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers are not only a source of intriguing interpretations but also a resource for acquiring aptitude in the act of interpretation.
Chapter 7: Medieval Jewish Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Jason Kalman
“The view that Gen. 1-2 should be taken as an accurate historical account of the world’s creation is rare in Jewish sources and in the Jewish imagination.” p148. “Reading literally from a translation is easier than from texts in their original languages. Translators make choices about the meaning of ambiguous words, and the reader rarely knows that the original text was unclear.” p148. “Simple people could read the narratives in a straightforward manner, while the intellectuals would read them as parables intended to reveal philosophical truths. Apparent contradictions between Torah and science or philosophy could be resolved by recognizing that biblical language operated simultaneously on different levels.” pp150-151. “Ultimately, medieval Jewish interpreters were in agreement that Gen. 1 and 2 were included in the Torah to teach religious truths and not to provide a detailed historical narrative about creation or how long ago it occurred.” p166.
Chapter 8: Medieval Christian Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Timothy Bellamah, OP
Latin was the common language in the medieval West. “This shared language facilitated free and rapid circulations of texts” but “Hebrew, Greek, and eventually Arabic works exercised influence on them only to the extent that they became available in Latin translations.” p171. “In the absence of the ANE cosmologies, they could not have known the extent to which the worldview of Genesis’s first readers differed from theirs, and as a consequence they did not doubt that creation narratives could be brought into agreement with the philosophy and science of their own times.” p186. “If they may be accurately divided into two kinds, one espousing simultaneous creation, the other successive, the distinction should not be pressed too far.” p187.
Chapter 9: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Protestant Reformers by Jennifer Powell McNutt
“In their teachings on Gen. 1-2, Luther and Calvin never turn a blind eye to the exegetical conversations of the past. They prioritize … the historical and grammatical methods.” p211. “Although Protestant Reformers stress the supremacy of Scripture, it is evident in their work on Genesis that they believe neither that Scripture is clear in the sense that all truth is accessible to human reason nor that complete human understanding of Scripture is necessary for salvation.” p211. This chapter didn’t really address the main ideas being studied the way I expected.
Chapter 10: Rediscovery of the Ancient Near East and Its Implications by David T. Tsumura
“The Genesis account takes very different stances from the ANE toward the divine, the world, and the human being’s calling, and there is a clear distinction between the divine world and the human world.” p236. “For the modern Western reader the similarities between the Bible and the ANE religions may be a problem. However, an ancient polytheistic reader would not be struck by the similarities but would take them for granted. … ‘It is the differences that would surprise him: its monotheism (only one God!), God’s total sovereignty over the elements, his anger at sin, his rewarding of obedience, and so forth.’” p237. Interestingly, the author of this chapter disagreed with John Walton’s view of Genesis 1 describing a functional creation where chaos was transformed into order. He also does not see Genesis 1 as a Temple text.
Chapter 11: Post-Darwinian Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Aaron T. Smith
This chapter looks at a variety of current interpretational approaches including fundamentalism / young earth creationism, gap, progressive creation, and theistic evolution / evolutionary creation as well as how theologians wrestle with the image of God in light of common ancestry. “Faithful reading of the Bible after Darwin is therefore the same as faithful reading before him: that which respects the freedom of the text, which respect grows organically out of encounters with, and corresponding understanding of, the God of the text. For the freedom of the text is given in the freedom of this God, the Creator who wills creation really to be his partner – in fidelity and in perpetual and indeed dynamic newness.” p266.
Postscript by Kyle Greenwood
“The interpreters we have studied did not perceive themselves approaching Gen. 1-2 in a purely subjective manner, in which the text only has meaning insofar as the reader or hearer ascribes meaning to it. Rather each interpreter operated under the conviction that Gene. 1-2 is Scripture, and thus in some way is authoritative. As such, the text must be read closely and interpreted carefully. Nonetheless, interpretations varied markedly from generation to generation.” p269. “If nothing else is gleaned from listening to the voices of the past, we should be reminded of our own inadequacies as interpreters. … By listening to the voices of others, whether those voices spoke three years ago or three millennia ago, we can discover models and techniques for taking Scripture more authoritatively and holding our own interpretations less dogmatically.” p270.
This book provided excellent summaries from many time periods throughout history on how Genesis 1-2 was understood and discussed. Because the scope was to look primarily at four areas, 1. Treatment of days; 2. Cosmology; 3. Creation and nature of humanity; and 4. Garden of Eden, it was possible to see the way different generations of readers over the centuries thought about these areas. And there have been a lot of different perspectives and approaches to understanding this text. This book is fairly academic in style and provides many additional recommended resources for those wishing to dive even deeper. For someone looking for a more accessible title on this topic, I highly recommend Kyle Greenwood’s book “Scripture and Cosmology: Reading the Bible Between the Ancient World and Modern Science” which is fantastic but written more for a lay audience.
Chapter 1: Old Testament Reverberations of Genesis 1-2 by Kyle R. Greenwood
This chapter examines the Old Testament passages that mention or reflect the four specific topics of interest in this book. Greenwood shows that the themes of Genesis 1-2 “permeate the entire OT canon,” but the “biblical authors were not compelled to articulate the themes in a consistent manner.” p.21.
Chapter 2: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 in Second Temple Jewish Literature by Michael D. Matlock
Chapter 2 surveys writings from the Second Temple Period (approximately 516 BCE – 70 CE) related to the four aspects of Genesis 1-2 that are being studied in this book. “These Second Temple Jewish interpretations of Gen 1-2 offer quite a diversity of thought in how one should comprehend the creation accounts. Apart from the sectarian writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hellenization has played an essential ingredient in the mixture of thought in these Jewish writings.” p.41.
Chapter 3: New Testament Appropriations of Genesis 1-2 by Ira Brent Driggers
Driggers looks at the treatment of the four topics from Genesis 1-2 in the books of the New Testaments. “The NT writers do not engage Genesis … as a way to preserve its ‘original’ meaning, much less to verify the historicity of the past people and events, but rather they draw out the implications of the central Christian claims that Jesus Christ is risen Lord. Thus the diverse ways in which the NT appropriates Gen. 1-2 are a function of the diversity inherent in the NT itself.” pp. 73-74.
Chapter 4: Early Rabbinic Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Joel S. Allen
After the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the study of the Torah replaced the Temple as the seat of worship. During the period from ~70 CE – 500 CE, literature such as Genesis Rabbah, rabbinic midrash, Halakah, and haggadah captured rabbinic thoughts on Genesis 1-2 during this time period. “Although early rabbis and the literature they produced engage Scripture from a radically different set of assumptions and interests than these that drive modern Christian hermeneutics, they provide an important link to the Jewish roots of the Christian Faith.” p94. “A student of the Christian faith can hardly ignore this world of interpretive insight and theological reflection; it is the very soil from which the tree of Christian faith has sprung.” p95.
Chapter 5: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Ante-Nicene Fathers by Stephen O. Presley
“This chapter will consider the early Christian interpretations of Gen. 1-2 in the pre-Nicene context (before 325 CE), from the earliest days of the postapostolic period to the end of the third century.” p98. “When these fathers of the church interpret Gen. 1-2, they bring with them several hermeneutical assumptions, including a posture of humility toward cosmological questions, a defense of the antiquity and authority of the Mosaic account of creation, and a balance of literal and spiritual senses of Scripture.” p118. “The unity and diversity of these interpretations of Gen. 1-2 in the early church set a trajectory of interpretation that continues to influence the rest of the Christian tradition.” p118.
Chapter 6: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers by C. Rebecca Rine
“For the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers, the beginning of Genesis holds great promise – and great peril. The promise of these chapters lies in their weighty subject matter, their depictions of divine action, their surprising turns of phrases, and their intimations regarding human origins. Their peril, however, lies in their susceptibility to critique from a number of quarters, due to either what they say or fail to say.” p143. “Students of patristic teaching must sift through multiple perspectives, evaluate conflicting claims, consider the import of wording and context, and discern underlying relationships that may or may not appear on the surface. In doing so, they may find that the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers are not only a source of intriguing interpretations but also a resource for acquiring aptitude in the act of interpretation.
Chapter 7: Medieval Jewish Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Jason Kalman
“The view that Gen. 1-2 should be taken as an accurate historical account of the world’s creation is rare in Jewish sources and in the Jewish imagination.” p148. “Reading literally from a translation is easier than from texts in their original languages. Translators make choices about the meaning of ambiguous words, and the reader rarely knows that the original text was unclear.” p148. “Simple people could read the narratives in a straightforward manner, while the intellectuals would read them as parables intended to reveal philosophical truths. Apparent contradictions between Torah and science or philosophy could be resolved by recognizing that biblical language operated simultaneously on different levels.” pp150-151. “Ultimately, medieval Jewish interpreters were in agreement that Gen. 1 and 2 were included in the Torah to teach religious truths and not to provide a detailed historical narrative about creation or how long ago it occurred.” p166.
Chapter 8: Medieval Christian Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Timothy Bellamah, OP
Latin was the common language in the medieval West. “This shared language facilitated free and rapid circulations of texts” but “Hebrew, Greek, and eventually Arabic works exercised influence on them only to the extent that they became available in Latin translations.” p171. “In the absence of the ANE cosmologies, they could not have known the extent to which the worldview of Genesis’s first readers differed from theirs, and as a consequence they did not doubt that creation narratives could be brought into agreement with the philosophy and science of their own times.” p186. “If they may be accurately divided into two kinds, one espousing simultaneous creation, the other successive, the distinction should not be pressed too far.” p187.
Chapter 9: Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 among the Protestant Reformers by Jennifer Powell McNutt
“In their teachings on Gen. 1-2, Luther and Calvin never turn a blind eye to the exegetical conversations of the past. They prioritize … the historical and grammatical methods.” p211. “Although Protestant Reformers stress the supremacy of Scripture, it is evident in their work on Genesis that they believe neither that Scripture is clear in the sense that all truth is accessible to human reason nor that complete human understanding of Scripture is necessary for salvation.” p211. This chapter didn’t really address the main ideas being studied the way I expected.
Chapter 10: Rediscovery of the Ancient Near East and Its Implications by David T. Tsumura
“The Genesis account takes very different stances from the ANE toward the divine, the world, and the human being’s calling, and there is a clear distinction between the divine world and the human world.” p236. “For the modern Western reader the similarities between the Bible and the ANE religions may be a problem. However, an ancient polytheistic reader would not be struck by the similarities but would take them for granted. … ‘It is the differences that would surprise him: its monotheism (only one God!), God’s total sovereignty over the elements, his anger at sin, his rewarding of obedience, and so forth.’” p237. Interestingly, the author of this chapter disagreed with John Walton’s view of Genesis 1 describing a functional creation where chaos was transformed into order. He also does not see Genesis 1 as a Temple text.
Chapter 11: Post-Darwinian Interpretations of Genesis 1-2 by Aaron T. Smith
This chapter looks at a variety of current interpretational approaches including fundamentalism / young earth creationism, gap, progressive creation, and theistic evolution / evolutionary creation as well as how theologians wrestle with the image of God in light of common ancestry. “Faithful reading of the Bible after Darwin is therefore the same as faithful reading before him: that which respects the freedom of the text, which respect grows organically out of encounters with, and corresponding understanding of, the God of the text. For the freedom of the text is given in the freedom of this God, the Creator who wills creation really to be his partner – in fidelity and in perpetual and indeed dynamic newness.” p266.
Postscript by Kyle Greenwood
“The interpreters we have studied did not perceive themselves approaching Gen. 1-2 in a purely subjective manner, in which the text only has meaning insofar as the reader or hearer ascribes meaning to it. Rather each interpreter operated under the conviction that Gene. 1-2 is Scripture, and thus in some way is authoritative. As such, the text must be read closely and interpreted carefully. Nonetheless, interpretations varied markedly from generation to generation.” p269. “If nothing else is gleaned from listening to the voices of the past, we should be reminded of our own inadequacies as interpreters. … By listening to the voices of others, whether those voices spoke three years ago or three millennia ago, we can discover models and techniques for taking Scripture more authoritatively and holding our own interpretations less dogmatically.” p270.
This book provided excellent summaries from many time periods throughout history on how Genesis 1-2 was understood and discussed. Because the scope was to look primarily at four areas, 1. Treatment of days; 2. Cosmology; 3. Creation and nature of humanity; and 4. Garden of Eden, it was possible to see the way different generations of readers over the centuries thought about these areas. And there have been a lot of different perspectives and approaches to understanding this text. This book is fairly academic in style and provides many additional recommended resources for those wishing to dive even deeper. For someone looking for a more accessible title on this topic, I highly recommend Kyle Greenwood’s book “Scripture and Cosmology: Reading the Bible Between the Ancient World and Modern Science” which is fantastic but written more for a lay audience.
September 13, 2019
This fascinating collection of essays takes a look at Genesis chapters 1 and 2 through the interpretive frameworks of various cultures and contexts. The essays are arranged chronologically, beginning with the Old Testament time period and ending in the current day. In between they discuss second temple Judaism, the early church fathers, both Jewish and Christian medieval thinkers, the protestant reformers, and more. One of the major strengths of this book when compared to other anthologies is the consistency in approach of each of the authors. For the most part, with respect to each essays specific cultural focus, the author covers the same topics: treatment of days, cosmology, creation and nature of humanity, the Garden of Eden, and other unique interpretive aspects.
When all is said and done, one thing is clear: there is no such thing as a single prevailing understanding of Genesis 1-2 that has remained ubiquitous across culture and time. While there are core similarities, different historical and cultural contexts produced different questions and concerns, and it was those questions and concerns that resulted in the interpretive writings we have today.
As always when it comes to anthologies, the essays are a mixed bag. Most are really interesting, but a couple of them fell a bit short. Nevertheless, the good essays were really good. Of special mention are Greenwood's opening essays on Old Testament context and David Tsumura's essay on the rediscovery of the Ancient Near East through the advancements in archaeology in recent decades.
Overall, this is a great book and should be read by all who are interested in the question of how to interpret the Genesis creation narratives. While you won't walk away with the answers to every question, you will walk away with a much deeper understanding of Genesis 1-2
When all is said and done, one thing is clear: there is no such thing as a single prevailing understanding of Genesis 1-2 that has remained ubiquitous across culture and time. While there are core similarities, different historical and cultural contexts produced different questions and concerns, and it was those questions and concerns that resulted in the interpretive writings we have today.
As always when it comes to anthologies, the essays are a mixed bag. Most are really interesting, but a couple of them fell a bit short. Nevertheless, the good essays were really good. Of special mention are Greenwood's opening essays on Old Testament context and David Tsumura's essay on the rediscovery of the Ancient Near East through the advancements in archaeology in recent decades.
Overall, this is a great book and should be read by all who are interested in the question of how to interpret the Genesis creation narratives. While you won't walk away with the answers to every question, you will walk away with a much deeper understanding of Genesis 1-2
November 27, 2018
Provides an overview of interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 in the Old Testament, 2nd Temple period, the New Testament, Early Rabbinical literature, the Patristic period, Medival Christian period, the Reformation, the rediscovery of the ANE, and post-Darwinian readings. Each chapter is pretty good. The weakest link is David Tsumuara's chapter on reading Genesis after the rediscovery of the Ancient Near East. I don't doubt his scholarship, but this chapter was the least descriptive of various views and the most apologetic.
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