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In the Beginning, GOD: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life
With the grace and insight for which she is known, Marva Dawn shows how the opening pages of the book of Genesis rivet our attention on God, calling us to worship and to praise. The repeated words, phrases, and actions themselves beckon us into a rhythm of worship which touches our very souls. By focusing on God, we become different people--not by trying to perfect a technique or follow a set of rules, but by allowing who God is to form who we are. As a result, our attitudes and actions change toward the world God has created. Our desire for justice swells. Relationships between men and women are transformed. The consequences of not centering on God are tragic for creation and culture. Yet here Dawn helps us see anew the grace He offers to overcome our rebellious and wandering hearts. Join in this celebration of praise for the difference God makes.
124 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2009
9 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Marva J. Dawn
38 books51 followersMarva J. Dawn is an American Christian theologian, author, musician and educator, associated with the parachurch organization "Christians Equipped for Ministry" in Vancouver, Washington. She also serves as Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dawn is generally perceived as a Lutheran evangelical.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 7, 2016
Summary: A series of reflections on the texts of Genesis 1-3 focused not on questions of beginnings and the controversies that surround these chapters but on what they show us of God and how this may lead us into worship.
Over the last 150 years, the first chapters of Genesis have been a battleground between faith and science, and sometimes between competing views within the Christian community. Marva J. Dawn thinks all of this misses the central object of these chapters. She contends these chapters reveal the character of God and lead us into worship of this God.
There is the very text itself. She observes the liturgical character of Genesis 1:1-2:3 with its repetition of "God said," "it came to be," "it was good," and "evening and morning." with an ordering of creation and a culmination in God's "very good" and the rest of the seventh day.
This is a story in which we are formed. There is the creation of human beings as male and female. They are formed for care of the earth. They are formed for justice, with enough food and all the goods of creation for all. They are formed for sabbath-keeping. As God rests, so may we.
She considers the second of the accounts beginning with Genesis 2:4, with humans placed in a well-watered garden. Like a number of other scholars, Dawn notes that the woman is "helper", a term used of God 17 times and thus not a term of subordination. She notes the design of our sexuality to be a leaving, cleaving and becoming one between woman and man. She then explores the fall and the choice God gives that allows us to choose love, the nature of human sin, and its effects, and the mercy of a God who clothes the naked and ashamed couple in skins, foreshadowing a greater sacrifice.
She concludes with a summary of the questions Genesis does answer:
1. Who am I? What is my identity?
2. To whom do I belong? To whom do I pledge my loyalty?
3. Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?
4. What is wrong with the world? Why is there so much disorder?
5. How can it be fixed? What is the remedy for sin and evil?
6. Where am I headed? What is my goal?
7. How does everything fit together? Is there a master story?
8. How can I survive? When the forces of evil assail me, how do I find the power to protect myself?
9. What do I respect? By what values do I live?
10. Why should I live? What gives meaning to my existence?
11. How can there be a future when the world is in such a mess? How do I find hope?
12. What is my center? Who is our God?
The Epilogue to the book is a confession of sin and faith based on her reading of Genesis, a confession she first introduced at InterVarsity's 2002 Following Christ conference in Atlanta (I was there!).
Dawn's book is reflection, not polemic. Along the way, she helps us recognize the important emphases of Genesis without descending into controversy or weighty exegesis. She opens our eyes to the wisdom and beauty and grace and truth of God in his creative work, and the beginnings of his dealings with human fallenness. She leads us into worship and response to what God has done in a series of short but rich reflections. I would commend this as a first text to read for any interested in the message of Genesis 1-3, to focus us on foundational and formative truths rather than the incidental concerns that have come to occupy our attentions.
Over the last 150 years, the first chapters of Genesis have been a battleground between faith and science, and sometimes between competing views within the Christian community. Marva J. Dawn thinks all of this misses the central object of these chapters. She contends these chapters reveal the character of God and lead us into worship of this God.
There is the very text itself. She observes the liturgical character of Genesis 1:1-2:3 with its repetition of "God said," "it came to be," "it was good," and "evening and morning." with an ordering of creation and a culmination in God's "very good" and the rest of the seventh day.
This is a story in which we are formed. There is the creation of human beings as male and female. They are formed for care of the earth. They are formed for justice, with enough food and all the goods of creation for all. They are formed for sabbath-keeping. As God rests, so may we.
She considers the second of the accounts beginning with Genesis 2:4, with humans placed in a well-watered garden. Like a number of other scholars, Dawn notes that the woman is "helper", a term used of God 17 times and thus not a term of subordination. She notes the design of our sexuality to be a leaving, cleaving and becoming one between woman and man. She then explores the fall and the choice God gives that allows us to choose love, the nature of human sin, and its effects, and the mercy of a God who clothes the naked and ashamed couple in skins, foreshadowing a greater sacrifice.
She concludes with a summary of the questions Genesis does answer:
1. Who am I? What is my identity?
2. To whom do I belong? To whom do I pledge my loyalty?
3. Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?
4. What is wrong with the world? Why is there so much disorder?
5. How can it be fixed? What is the remedy for sin and evil?
6. Where am I headed? What is my goal?
7. How does everything fit together? Is there a master story?
8. How can I survive? When the forces of evil assail me, how do I find the power to protect myself?
9. What do I respect? By what values do I live?
10. Why should I live? What gives meaning to my existence?
11. How can there be a future when the world is in such a mess? How do I find hope?
12. What is my center? Who is our God?
The Epilogue to the book is a confession of sin and faith based on her reading of Genesis, a confession she first introduced at InterVarsity's 2002 Following Christ conference in Atlanta (I was there!).
Dawn's book is reflection, not polemic. Along the way, she helps us recognize the important emphases of Genesis without descending into controversy or weighty exegesis. She opens our eyes to the wisdom and beauty and grace and truth of God in his creative work, and the beginnings of his dealings with human fallenness. She leads us into worship and response to what God has done in a series of short but rich reflections. I would commend this as a first text to read for any interested in the message of Genesis 1-3, to focus us on foundational and formative truths rather than the incidental concerns that have come to occupy our attentions.
September 10, 2012
As Christians living in this scientific world, what do we do with the first few chapter of Genesis? Was the world created in literally 6 days? Were we humans formed from dust and ribs? What does the story of the fall mean for us today? From Christian claims of a young earth to claims of an evolutionary creation the first few chapters of Genesis are still heavily debated. Marva Dawn, in her book, In The Beginning, God: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life, deals specifically with Genesis 1-3.
One of the first points she makes is about how people are to approach scripture. She writes, "We can too naturally tend towed asking what the text says and means for our benefit instead of what it says about God...". From that point she gets into why she thinks Genesis 1-3 speaks today. She uses those three chapters to speak on a myriad of things including justice issues, worship, creation, ecology, sabbath, sin, culture, etc... This isn't an in-depth study of all those points but rather she uses Genesis 1-3 to speak to those situations. The least satisfying chapter for me in this book is where she deals with human sexuality. For the first part of the book she talks about Genesis 1-3 as liturgy, formative, poetry but when it comes to sexuality it is as she says, "Normative". I just don't get why nothing is literal Genesis 1-3 except for when it speaks about human sexuality.
Overall, this short book is an excellent read on the first three chapters of Genesis. If you are looking for a supplement in studying the creation stories, I would highly suggest you picking up In The Beginning, God.
One of the first points she makes is about how people are to approach scripture. She writes, "We can too naturally tend towed asking what the text says and means for our benefit instead of what it says about God...". From that point she gets into why she thinks Genesis 1-3 speaks today. She uses those three chapters to speak on a myriad of things including justice issues, worship, creation, ecology, sabbath, sin, culture, etc... This isn't an in-depth study of all those points but rather she uses Genesis 1-3 to speak to those situations. The least satisfying chapter for me in this book is where she deals with human sexuality. For the first part of the book she talks about Genesis 1-3 as liturgy, formative, poetry but when it comes to sexuality it is as she says, "Normative". I just don't get why nothing is literal Genesis 1-3 except for when it speaks about human sexuality.
Overall, this short book is an excellent read on the first three chapters of Genesis. If you are looking for a supplement in studying the creation stories, I would highly suggest you picking up In The Beginning, God.
August 19, 2011
The book is good. It is somewhat simplistic and I think this may have to do with the audience that it is being aimed at....
I take several things from this book that I will share here:
1. Marve J. Dawn states something that I have never heard before and therefore I took note with great interest, that Jesus came as a man to show that it is not only women who serve. Pretty cool huh?
2. Woman is a corresponding helper, an equal helper. Male and female are made in the image of God, the only creations who are. Animals are not and therefore are not equal helpers to humanity. The word for helper is the word used for God when God is referred to as helper, this I have heard before.
3. In her analysis of Genesis 1 Marva Dawn says that she believes that the pinnacle of creation is NOT humanity but instead it is WORSHIP. This keep the focus on God and not on we humans.
Finally, culture, politics, EVERYTHING is fallen and decaying. God made everything, all, good and because of sin everything has fallen. Thank God for redemption.
I take several things from this book that I will share here:
1. Marve J. Dawn states something that I have never heard before and therefore I took note with great interest, that Jesus came as a man to show that it is not only women who serve. Pretty cool huh?
2. Woman is a corresponding helper, an equal helper. Male and female are made in the image of God, the only creations who are. Animals are not and therefore are not equal helpers to humanity. The word for helper is the word used for God when God is referred to as helper, this I have heard before.
3. In her analysis of Genesis 1 Marva Dawn says that she believes that the pinnacle of creation is NOT humanity but instead it is WORSHIP. This keep the focus on God and not on we humans.
Finally, culture, politics, EVERYTHING is fallen and decaying. God made everything, all, good and because of sin everything has fallen. Thank God for redemption.
December 24, 2009
The first page of the book really got me hooked, but the rest of the book seen to progressively get worse. Her premise is that the Bible is about God and not us. But then she just seem to write very little about God and a whole lot about the environment. I am not sure I will finish the book. Life is to short to read some books.
April 22, 2011
Marva Dawn's writing is clear and accessible. Her exposition on Genesis 1-3 is absolutely phenomenal. It has opened my eyes and heart in brand new ways and has renewed my curiosity for exploring the cosmos. This is rich and easy read.
August 21, 2017
Short, readable chapters that carry a real spiritual fervor. I enjoyed this book very much.
April 10, 2015
The first half of the book is 4 stars and the second half is 2 stars. Therefore, a mean of 3.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews