Re: concordance & genesis (edited)

Peter wrote,

> I know that this {the idea that there is a body of water, a sea, above a
> solid dome of the sky] is the prevailing dogma among many current interpreters
> of Gen.1, although the text itself says nothing at all about a body of
> liquid water above the expanse, nor that the celestial bodies are
> located below any waters.
>
The idea that Gen 1:6-9 says there was a sea above a solid sky and Gen
1:14-17 says the celestial bodies are below these waters is not just the
interpretation of modern interpreters. It was universally interpreted this way by Jews
and Christians until modern times. (I have documented this in my paper, "The
firmament and the water above, Part II: The Meaning of 'The Water above the
Firmament" in Gen 1:6-8," Westminster Theological Journal 54 (1992) 31-46) Given
that this was also the view of the Babylonians and Egyptians in OT times, are we
really supposed to believe that the writer of Genesis had no such idea in
mind and was simply misinterpreted for the first 3000 years as as by modern OT
scholars?

Is it possible that you have made a commitment to a particular theological
view which prevents you from allowing the Bible to speak freely? Is it possible
that you are suppressing the Bible in order to uphold a particular
theological position?

Paul
Received on Sat Dec 20 00:30:44 2003