Genesis Account Of Creation Research Articles

Mesopotamian reverberations in the genesis account of creation

The influence of Mesopotamia cannot be overemphasized in biblical studies especially as it concerns the study of creation story. This goes a long way to recognize some similarities between the Mesopotamia narratives and the biblical account. Most comparisons had been carried out between the Genesis narration and ancient creation narratives to the flood stories and the purpose is to discover the basis and to affirm the authenticity of biblical narration. This work therefore examines the „reechoing‟ role of the location known as Mesopotamia, and its place in historical narratives of creation stories and associated stories. The paper adopted thehistorical-critical method and textual analysis. The paper concluded that the biblical creation account and associated stories had their origin in the Mesopotamia and among the city-States that inhabited her prior to the emergence of biblical Israel.

Saint Bonaventure and the Divine Order of Creation

ABSTRACT One of the most interesting controversies of the thirteenth century arose over the Aristotelian conception of time. Aquinas and Bonaventure took two different approaches to this question of time. Bonaventure took an eschatological view of time which refuted the Aristotelian notion of formless time which Aquinas seems to have accepted. Taking a more emanationist view of creation than Aquinas, Bonaventure sought to link historical time to a sacred unfolding of the divine mystery, symbolically presented in the Genesis account of creation. This sacred unfolding of time has powerful affinities with the stages of mystical ascent portrayed in his Itinerarium Mentis in Deum and the De Reductione Artium ad Theologiam. History, although ultimately hidden from human understanding, nevertheless for Bonaventure can be seen as a refinement and transformation of the creation into the mind of God where all things will be made new. This essay explores the mystical aspects of this Franciscan vision of history as contemplated by Bonaventure.

A Linguistic and Theological Assessment of the Gap Theory with Particular Reference to Genesis 1:1-2b

Over the years, Christian scholars have made various attempts to explain the origin of the universe based on the Genesis account of creation. Three key evangelical interpretations of Genesis 1:1-3, namely, the restitution theory, the gap theory, and the precreation chaos theory, have emerged from the debate. Of particular importance to the present study is the gap theory which attempts to reconcile the Genesis account of creation with the geological claim that the earth is billions of years old. Advocates of the gap theory argue that God initially created a perfect universe in Genesis 1:1 which became imperfect in Genesis 1:2 as a result of a cataclysm. Though appealing, the linguistic and theological basis for this popular theory has been questioned by many biblical scholars. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of the gap theory through a linguistic and theological examination of Genesis 1:1-2b. At the end the study discovered that the gap theory does not rest on solid exegetical, theological and linguistic grounds.

The role of genesis account of creation in the development of monogamy in the Old Testament and its reception in the early Church

Analiza tez biblistow dotyczących poligamii w Starym Testamencie prowadzi do konkluzji, ze byla ona praktykowana w starozytnym Izraelu. Znawcy tematu podają dwie ewentualności: albo poligamia byla cześcią kultury semickiej od zarania jej dziejow, albo byla poźniejszym skutkiem wplywow kultury ludow ościennych. Niemniej, jak podaje autor artykulu, istnieją niezbite dowody, ze poligamia nigdy nie byla tolerowana jako normalna, zamierzona przez Boga forma zycia rodzinnego. Glowną tezą artykulu jest stwierdzenie, ze opis stworzenia z Ksiegi Rodzaju istotnie wplynąl na rozwoj monogamii w kulturze starozytnego Izraela. Opisana relacja pierwszej pary ludzi miala na celu prezentowac archetypiczną forme malzenstwa zaproponowaną przez Boga ludziom jako paradygmat monogamicznego malzenstwa. Artykul ukazuje, ze prawdopodobna jest hipoteza biblistow, ze proces redakcji Ksiegi Rodzaju (ukonczonej okolo V wieku przed Chrystusem) zintegrowal w tekście elementy tradycji monogamicznej, ktore byly obecne w świadomości Izraelitow od wiekow, jednocześnie stal sie wzorcem zycia malzenskiego dla kolejnych pokolen i pomogl wykorzenic ślady myślenia poligamicznego. Artykul porusza rowniez sporną kwestie rozwodow dyskutowaną przez szkoly rabinackie Hillela Starszego i Shammaia Starszego, do ktorej odniosl sie Jezus w Ewangelii, odwolując sie do opisu stworzenia z Ksiegi Rodzaju. Przedstawione w tekście wybrane wypowiedzi Ojcow Kościola dotyczące monogamii rowniez wskazują, jak istotną role odgrywa opis stworzenia z Ksiegi Rodzaju w formowaniu chrześcijanskiej świadomości odnośnie do malzenstwa.

Philo as Origen’s Declared Model: Allegorical and Historical Exegesis of Scripture

After on overview of Origen’s relations to Rabbinic exegesis, I turn to the relations between Origen and Hellenistic Judaism. I investigate how Philo and Origen use the instrument of allegory to read the Bible in the light of philosophy, but both of them react against a sheer allegorization of Scripture, which existed both in the Jewish allegorizers who preceded Philo and in ‘Gnostic’ Christian allegorizers. Even Philo and Origen, however, thought (unlike subsequent Rabbinic and Christian exegetes) that the Genesis account of creation had a special status and required to be interpreted not literally, but only allegorically. I argue for a Platonic influence on this conception and point out how Origen emphasized the Jewish antecedents to his own philosophical allegoresis of Scripture. For Origen, Philo the Jew was a much better exegete and theologian than the Christian “heretics” were.

Nursing Perspective on the Genesis Account of Creation

Biblical accounts of creation tell the origin of the world and the beginning of God's relationship with humankind. Azusa Pacific University assigns graduate nursing students a faith integration project analyzing Creation accounts through the eyes of a nurse researcher. This report integrates eight students' investigations of Genesis 1 and 2, offering deep, rich insight into nursing practice.

The Genesis Account of Creation and its Relationship to Cosmogony.

This paper concerns itself with the issue of the account of creation and its relationship to cosmogony. In this jet age when western education has broadened people's mind, there is a strong desire to know the true origin of man and the universe. It goes a step further to highlight various concepts of creation, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. The paper concludes by establishing a Biblical fact of account of creation as the authentic one. SOPHIA: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 8 (2) 2006: pp. 54-56

WORDS V. DEEDS: A COMPARISON OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

In 1967 Lynn White, Jr. proclaimed that “Human ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny…that is, by religion” (p. 1205). White attributed environmental problems to the Christians' adherence to the Genesis account of creation which provides an injunction for humans to use nature to their advantage and to have dominion over the Earth. His proclamation generated a debate among sociologists, theologians, philosophers, and historians about the role of Christianity in the environmental crisis. Much research has explored the current religion and environment relationship using data from statewide surveys, the General Social Survey, and the Gallup Poll but there has been no work that compares the relationship between ministers' knowledge of official church statements on the environment and environmental actions of congregants. This work seeks to address this void. The population for this study is the 307 churches in the state of Georgia that are a part of the Presbyterian Church, United States of America (PCUSA). Results from 158 completed surveys show that while the ministers overwhelmingly support the ideology of stewardship rather than domination, it is their environmentally friendly actions that have the most significant impact on the congregation.

The Management of Cleavage Potential in a Religious Sect

A study of a single congregation of a Holiness sect revealed that potential internal conflicts were buffered by a practice of selectively presenting ideological issues in a way which slighted more controversial questions. The organization gave prime time and staging to those issues on which there was already the most agreement, such as use of akohol and tobacco. On a questionnaire, adult members (high school age and older) expressed attitudes on fifteen ideological issues. (N= 105, 83% of the target population.) By degree of consensus, the issues ranked as follows: smoking, drinking of alcoholic beverage, reality of the Devil, Genesis account of creation, story of Jonah and the whale, attendance of Hollywood films, importance of divine healing, engaging in public demonstrations, divorce and remarriage, speaking in tongues, public display of affection, wearing of mini-skirts, interracial marriage, wearing of makeup by women of the church, wearing of long hair by young men. Respondents were also asked to report the extent to which each issue was presented and/or discussed in an open context within the church. There was a strong tendency for those issues achieving most consensus also to achieve most open discussion. The correlation was .82. Participant observation and interviews supported this finding.