you know I'm continually amazed how
often in my work of evangelization the
problem of Genesis comes up what I mean
is people they're just balking over what
seems to be the bad science on display
in the book of Genesis they say look how
can you possibly make sense of this text
that says God made the world in six days
all the species came into being you know
roughly at the same time that light
existed before the Sun and Moon I mean
come on how do you square this very
naive mythological cosmology with the
subtle work of Newton and Einstein and
Stephen Hawking
jezus is just bad science who can take
it seriously today well here's a way to
get at it when looking at the Bible and
Vatican 2 is real clear on this you've
got to be sensitive to genre what kind
of text are we dealing with seeing
people make mistakes about that all the
time it would be it would be a mistake
to look at Moby Dick and expect it to be
a 19th century history B mistake to look
at TS Eliot's the wasteland and expect
it to be a spy novel you have to know
what kind of text you're dealing with so
what is Genesis if I can borrow page
from father George coin the great two
Jesuit priest and astrophysicist he said
what modern science commences in the
late sixteenth early 17th century with
Galileo and Descartes and Pascal and
company the last biblical book is
written around the Year 100 ad there's
just no way that the Bible is modern
science modern science didn't exist yet
so whatever is going on in the Bible
it's not what we mean by modern science
what Newton and Stephen Hawking and
Einstein and company were doing is just
simply not what the biblical authors are
doing Newton and company are following
the ideas and principles of modern
science namely to observe
to form hypotheses to test them with
experimentation draw conclusions etc
okay so don't look at Genesis as bad
science that's like looking at the
wasteland as a bad spy novel it's not a
spy novel at all Genesis is not science
at all so what is it
I would call it theology mysticism
spirituality it's a theological
reflection on the origin of all things
so what are some of the insights we can
gain once we get this genre of issue
clear well there are many many Genesis
is is so rich and so multivalent I'll
just pick out a couple here's the first
one God makes the whole world now
translate yet philosophically if you
want into the non-contingent ground of
contingency gives rise to all things
even here and now
so creation is happening now Genesis is
talking theologically about something
that's happening even now God is giving
rise to the world how how through a
non-violent act of speech God says let
there be light and there's light God
says let the earth come forth and it
comes forth in almost all the
mythologies of the ancient world
all the ancient cosmologies the world
comes forth in a great act of violence
God or the gods of battle with some
opponent they wrestle a rival into
submission and in that act order ensues
by the way notice how that myth is very
prevalent even to this day we still tend
to believe it order comes through
violence through the conquest of arrival
there's none of that though in Genesis
God brings forth the world not through
violence not through conquest but
through a sheerly generous nonviolent
act of speech link it now if you want to
the great ethical teachings of Jesus
about the love of enemies about
non-violence what he's recommending is
not just a more correct ethical path
he's recommending to fall into line with
Addie
best grain of the universe that God
makes the world through non-violent love
there's a first theological theme in
Genesis here's a second one people that
time the time the Bible was written
worshiped all kinds of gods right some
worshiped the stars some worshiped the
moon
some worship the Sun some worshipped
animals right all these different
features of creation were worshipped as
gods
now what does the author Genesis say God
created the heavens and the earth God
created the Stars God created the
planets and the moon and the Sun God
created all the animals you see what
he's doing is he is dethroning all these
false claimants to divinity
he's saying none of these is in fact God
but they all come from God and they bear
witness to God but he's enunciate if you
want a great anti idolatry principle
nothing in this world is God the true
God is the creator of all things
relevant message today
you bet I mean we worship all kinds of
things you know from pleasure to money
to power etc no no God makes all those
things they're all under the aegis of
God but they're not to be worshipped
it's a second a theological point here's
a third one and again I could pick many
many it's such a rich text Adam don't
read it literally we're not talking
about a literal figure we're talking in
theological poetry Adam the first human
being names all the animals he
catalogues them cut a log on in the
Greek means according to the word God
has imbued all things with
intelligibility Adam noticing the
intelligibility names them gives them
their proper title who is he the church
fathers read him as the first scientist
he's the first philosopher
he's the human being in his proper role
as the steward of creation and the one
who names and orders all things
according to God's creative intention
this is the great humanism
that's implicit in Genesis eat of all
the trees right we hear the church
father said that's the great permission
of Genesis Adam and Eve who are kind of
at play in the feel of the Lord that
stands for science for art for politics
for conversation for friendship all
these forms of human flourishing under
the lordship of God Genesis is a great
humanistic text now those are three
insights I could garner many many more
read great commentators on Genesis read
the great spiritual and theological
interpreters of it get over the problem
of Genesis as bad science it's not bad
science is not science at all rather it
is exquisite theology