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Reading Genesis after Darwin
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species has changed the landscape of religious thought in many ways. There is a widespread assumption that before Darwin, all Christians believed that the world was created some 6,000 years ago over a period of 6 days. After Darwin, the first chapters of Genesis were either rejected totally by skeptics or defended vehemently in scientific creationism. This book tells a very different story. Bringing together contributions from biblical scholars, historians and contemporary theologians, it is demonstrated that both Jewish and Christian scholars read Genesis in a non-literal way long before Darwin. Even during the nineteenth century, there was a wide range of responses from religious believers towards evolution, many of them very positive. Stephen C. Barton and David Wilkinson argue that being receptive to the continuing relevance of Genesis today regarding questions of gender, cosmology, and the environment is a lively option.
- GenresReligion
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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November 3, 2012
The chapters in this book are from a series of public lectures sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Studies of Durham University. Eight of the thirteen authors are from Durham University. The chapters (lectures) are:
1. How Should One Read the Early Chapters of Genesis, in which Walter Moberly concludes that Darwin makes no real difference to one's reading of Genesis.
2. Genesis Before Darwin: Why Scripture Needed Liberating from Science, by Francis Watson
3. The Six Days of Creation According to the Greek Fathers, by Andrew Louth, dwells primarily on St. Basil the Great's understanding of creation and the cosmos.
4. The Hermeneutics of Reading Genesis after Darwin, in which Richard S. Briggs points out that Darwin's writings coincidentally coincided with the discovery of alternative ancient Near Eastern accounts of creation and floods, which also impacted the interpretation of Genesis.
5. What Difference Did Darwin Make?: The Interpretation of Genesis in the Nineteenth Century, in which John Rogerson makes the points that there was no unanimity about the interpretation of Genesis before Darwin, and that Darwin's works did not radically affect the interpretation of Genesis.
6. Genesis and the Scientists: Dissonance among the Harmonizers, by John Hedley Brooke, which quotes and discusses James Clerk Maxwell's warning of the dangers of "introducing sophisticated and transient theories of science into efforts of harmonization."
7. Science and Religion in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Landscape Art, by David Brown
8. Reading Genesis 1-3 in Light of Modern Science, in which David Wilkinson points out that "the real legacy of Darwin was to push Christians to a deeper engagement with the text of Genesis."
9. All God's Creatures: Reading Genesis on Human and Nonhuman Animals, in which David Clough discusses two possible ways of reconciling the human-separatist view with belief in human evolution but concludes that we need "a reading of Genesis that fully recognizes the relationship of continuity between human beings and other creatures."
10. Evolution and Evil: The Difference Darwin Made, in which Jeff Astley discusses the problems of natural and moral evil and the implications of evolution on Adam's Fall.
11. "Male and Female He Created Them" (Genesis 1:27): Interpreting Gender after Darwin, by Stephen C. Barton
12. Propriety and Trespass: The Drama of Eating, Ellen F. Davis
13. The Plausibility of Creationism: A Sociological Comment, in which Mathew Guest gives an interesting discussion of how and why the claims associated with young earth creationism are viewed as plausible by those who affirm them.
Each chapter has numerous helpful footnotes, and the book has an Index of Modern Authors and a Subject Index.
Overall, this book covered a number of significant topics in the creation-evolution debate and offered possible solutions. It is a good supplement to the current literature.
1. How Should One Read the Early Chapters of Genesis, in which Walter Moberly concludes that Darwin makes no real difference to one's reading of Genesis.
2. Genesis Before Darwin: Why Scripture Needed Liberating from Science, by Francis Watson
3. The Six Days of Creation According to the Greek Fathers, by Andrew Louth, dwells primarily on St. Basil the Great's understanding of creation and the cosmos.
4. The Hermeneutics of Reading Genesis after Darwin, in which Richard S. Briggs points out that Darwin's writings coincidentally coincided with the discovery of alternative ancient Near Eastern accounts of creation and floods, which also impacted the interpretation of Genesis.
5. What Difference Did Darwin Make?: The Interpretation of Genesis in the Nineteenth Century, in which John Rogerson makes the points that there was no unanimity about the interpretation of Genesis before Darwin, and that Darwin's works did not radically affect the interpretation of Genesis.
6. Genesis and the Scientists: Dissonance among the Harmonizers, by John Hedley Brooke, which quotes and discusses James Clerk Maxwell's warning of the dangers of "introducing sophisticated and transient theories of science into efforts of harmonization."
7. Science and Religion in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Landscape Art, by David Brown
8. Reading Genesis 1-3 in Light of Modern Science, in which David Wilkinson points out that "the real legacy of Darwin was to push Christians to a deeper engagement with the text of Genesis."
9. All God's Creatures: Reading Genesis on Human and Nonhuman Animals, in which David Clough discusses two possible ways of reconciling the human-separatist view with belief in human evolution but concludes that we need "a reading of Genesis that fully recognizes the relationship of continuity between human beings and other creatures."
10. Evolution and Evil: The Difference Darwin Made, in which Jeff Astley discusses the problems of natural and moral evil and the implications of evolution on Adam's Fall.
11. "Male and Female He Created Them" (Genesis 1:27): Interpreting Gender after Darwin, by Stephen C. Barton
12. Propriety and Trespass: The Drama of Eating, Ellen F. Davis
13. The Plausibility of Creationism: A Sociological Comment, in which Mathew Guest gives an interesting discussion of how and why the claims associated with young earth creationism are viewed as plausible by those who affirm them.
Each chapter has numerous helpful footnotes, and the book has an Index of Modern Authors and a Subject Index.
Overall, this book covered a number of significant topics in the creation-evolution debate and offered possible solutions. It is a good supplement to the current literature.
Displaying 1 of 1 review