In some ways this series on the first eleven chapters of Genesis had its origin in a very bad sermon I was subjected to over twenty years ago, in which the preacher basically told the congregation that we’d all be better off ignoring Genesis 1-11 because God doesn’t become recognizable as the God of the … Continue reading Of Beginnings and Endings: Genesis 11.10-32 and concluding thoughts on Genesis 1-11
Believe it or not, we’re finally in the home stretch of this series on the first eleven chapters of Genesis, which cover what we might call biblical pre-history. Today we have one final story that traffics in mythological or legendary imagery: the story of the Tower of Babel. Integrated Summary While without any direct known … Continue reading A Tower in the Sky: Genesis 11.1-9
In the last post we saw how after the flood, God reaffirms humanity’s creation in the image of God, renews humanity’s original blessing, and establishes a covenant with all living things. But the beauty and hopefulness of that narrative is tinged with a hint of warning, for God does all this despite the fact that … Continue reading Things Fall Apart … Again: Genesis 9.18-10.32
The two most recent posts in this series exploring the first eleven chapters of Genesis looked at the flood story, There we saw that Genesis played with familiar stories and symbols to say something about God, namely that God is in control, deliberate, and always leavens punishment with grace. Today we’ll see that in the … Continue reading A New Beginning: Genesis 8.20-9.17
Last time, we looked at how the flood story in Genesis connects with the broader cultural traditions of the Ancient Near East (ANE). We saw that once again, Genesis creatively reshapes older stories for its unique theological purpose. The result is that it portrays God as all-powerful and intentional in the decision to ‘undo’ creation … Continue reading The God of the Flood: Genesis 6.5-8.19, Part 2
Matthew Root 