Questions Youve Asked about the Old Testament OLD TESTAMENT CREATION FAITH

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Questions Youve Asked about the Old
TestamentOLD TESTAMENT CREATION FAITH
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Pre-test

• How many creation stories are there in the Old
  Testament?
• True or false We should take the biblical
  creation story (or stories) as literal,
  historical accounts.
• What raw materials did God use for creation in
  Genesis 1? In Genesis 2?
• Who made the plants?
• Draw the finished sixth day earth as described
  in Genesis 1.
• Why does it rain?

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Biblical creation stories

• Creation by command (Genesis 1)
• Creation by craftsmanship (Genesis 2)
• Creation by combat (poetic texts)

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God, the creative warrior

• Creation ensues from divine combat vs. primordial
  sea-monster
• Job 26714
• Psalm 741217
• Psalm 89512
• Isa 51910(historicized as exodus reference)
• Strong resemblance to Enuma elish

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Sequences of creation

• Genesis 1
• Light
• Firmament
• Dry land and plants
• Celestial objects
• Sea creatures and birds
• Land animals and human beings

• Genesis 2
• Dry land (presupposed)
• Human male
• Plants
• Land animals and birds (sea creatures not
  mentioned)
• Human female

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Raw materials of creation

• Out of nothing (ex nihilo)?
• Out of chaos?
• Gen 12 the earth was tohu and bohu
• Isa 4578 he did not create the earth tohu
• When God began to create heaven and earth the
  earth being unformed (tohu) and void (bohu) (JPS
  Tanakh)
• Tohu and bohu uninhabitable

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Sequence of creation (Gen 1)

• Habitats
• Light
• Firmament and sea (waters below)
• Dry land and plants

• Inhabitants
• Celestial objects
• Birds and sea creatures
• Land animals and humans

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Gods agents in creation

• Who made what?
• Gen 11112 So the earth put forth plants
• Gen 12021 sea monsters which the waters
  brought forth in swarms
• Gen 124 Let the earth bring forth every kind
  of living creature
• God commands, nature obeys

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Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
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Why does it rain?

• Cycle of evaporation condensation
• Divine action
• Job 5810
• Psalm 651011
• Psalm 1041013

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Implications

• OT creation faith
• Irreducible core God is responsible
• Variety in how accounts
• Mirrors neighboring cosmologies while opposes
  neighboring theologies
• Modern creation faith
• Tends to be selectively literal
• Tends to seek a uniform how
• Blends scientific cosmology and biblical
  cosmogony, de-emphasizing theology

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Questions Youve Asked about the Old
TestamentOLD TESTAMENT CREATION FAITH

• Next Weeks Topic (July 7)
• DAYS OF THE DINOSAURS