Genesis 1-3

People have grappled over the Genesis creation narrative for hundreds of years. Some see it as an un-historical myth, others see it as a literal, factual record of the beginning of the universe and humanity. Some people believe in a literal “6-24 hour creation days” and that the earth is somewhere between six-thousand and ten-thousand years old. Others believe that God created the universe in “6-epoch length periods of time” and that the earth is billions of years old. Some believe in neither. I think that both views are missing the point. Often what happens is that we focus on peripheral themes, missing fundamental themes in the story. It is safe to say that historical and scientific issues were not in the mind of the author when he recorded the Genesis creation story in approximately 2000 BC. So what was on the mind of the author? How are we to understand this story? What is it trying to tell us? How does it relate to me? More importantly, how does this story fit into my story-where is the juxtaposition?