In case some of you in the Grand Rapids area are interested:
The next Christian Perspectives in Science seminar at Calvin College is
Friday, March 3, 3:30 PM in Science Building room 110.
Speaker: Daniel C. Harlow, Professor of Religion
Topic: Creation in Genesis 1: Genre, Purpose, Truth
Abstract:
Does Genesis intend to teach factual or scientific truths about creation?
Or does it intend to affirm theological truths about God, the world, and
the human race? Or does it intend to do both? Christians have always
disagreed on these issues and doubtless always will. This presentation
argues that the framework in Genesis 1, six days of divine labor plus a
seventh day of divine rest, does not represent a historical or temporal
framework indicating how God created and how long God took to create. It
is rather an analogical framework that aims to depict the created status
of everything in the Israelite cosmos. It pictures the formation of the
three realms of creation as understood in Israelite cosmology - heavens
above, earth beneath, and waters under the earth - and the symmetrical
filling of those three realms with creatures suitable to each. In its
brief and highly stylized account, Genesis 1 reflects the ancient
Israelite cosmology. Its conception of the physical universe is not
timelessly valid but culturally relative. The timeless truth of Genesis
rather lies in its theological affirmations concerning the sovereignty of
God, the goodness of creation, and the purpose of humanity in the divine
plan.
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http://www.calvin.edu/~lhaarsma/ChrPerspSciSeminarPage.html
Received on Wed Mar 1 09:47:17 2006
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