Over the past couple weeks, we’ve been working our way slowly through Genesis 1. So far, we’ve seen that it’s a highly stylized text that plays with existing Babylonian mythology in order to present a vastly different idea of God and creation, one in which God’s authority is unchallenged by the forces of chaos and … Continue reading Humanity in God’s Image and Likeness: Genesis 1.26-31, Part 1
Over the millennia, scholars and devotional readers alike have come away from Genesis 1 awed by the grandeur of God’s vision and plan. It’s a story in which everything has its place and God systematically sorts the primordial undifferentiated mess into things that have form and purpose. This sense of orderliness is heightened by the … Continue reading According to Plan and Purpose: Genesis 1.3-25, Part II
The other day we looked at the first two verses of Genesis 1, which describe the primordial, ‘not-yet’ state of the world before God’s creative acts begin. It sets a mysterious scene, filled with elements that are as of yet unformed and therefore useless, but are also full of potential. Today we’ll look at days … Continue reading Speech and Separation: Genesis 1.3-25, Part I
In the previous post in this series-long deep-dive into the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we looked at the Genesis 1 creation story as a whole. This study suggested that the story was intended less as an explanation of the world’s origins than it was an act of theological resistance, using the language and motifs … Continue reading Setting the Stage: Genesis 1.1-2
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1.1). There are few more evocative words in all of the Jewish or Christian Scriptures than these, their very first. They begin, of course, the first of two creation stories recorded in Genesis. The passage as a whole stretches thirty-four verses, from Genesis … Continue reading God among the Gods: Genesis 1.1-2.3
Matthew Root 