Has anyone thought of writing a paraphrase of Gen 1-11?

[Mark_Elsasser]

I think that would be cool. I almost said a translation but not quite that. It would basically go verse by verse and kind of re-write it from the biologos perspective. So that we can see the whole picture. Similar to, but not quite exactly what, the Big Story does.

The Big Story hits creation in a nutshell, and I thought that was very cool. But, per one of my earlier topics, I always think there’s a bit of overemphasis on accommodating the science and not enough on contextualizing the scripture.

Because while the Big Story is awesome, it has a necessary continuance where now that it gets through Genesis 1, it has to deal with Genesis 2-11 and frame the Garden narrative, Cain and Abel, Genealogies, Flood, Tower of Babel and Table of Nations.

The Big Story may be all well and good as a story of creation from the perspective of the book of nature, but we still need to deal with explaining what all of these things in the book of scripture mean. And since creation is so tied in with, or necessarily flows into, the other narratives, how one tells that first story will affect how the others should be told.

Has anyone undertaken to do something like that in a comprehensive way? The more John Walton I read the more I love him, but I’ve only read Lost World of Gen 1 and Lost World of Adam and Eve. Ordered Lost World of Scripture. But I still don’t think he has a work where he goes verse by verse through the whole 1-11 comprehensively.

[fmiddel]

If he were to have written a paraphrase, what do you think it would sound like? Give it a stab…

[Mark_Elsasser]

I think I will give it a stab when I get some more time. At least for Genesis 1, so that it can show what I mean and hopefully spur more efforts to contribute the same.

[jammycakes (James McKay)]

I’m not sure I’d view The Big Story as a paraphrase of Genesis 1, even if that was what was intended by it. The closest parallel I see in the Bible to The Big Story is Elihu’s speech in the Book of Job.

Elihu tends to be overlooked in a lot of discussions about Job, because he’s just a young pipsqueak and some people see him as being theologically shallow. In actual fact, he plays a pretty important role in the narrative, because he changes the entire tone and focus of the conversation. He takes Job’s focus right away from his earthly problems and his three incompetent therapists, and shifts it gradually but firmly onto God, with a youthful exuberance and excitement that by the time you get to chapter 37 is a joy to read. The Big Story seems to do much the same – it leads up to a climax where you’ve lost sight of the technicalities of creation, and are focused entirely on the Creator.

[Nick_Allen (nicolas andulsky allen)]

I think that correcting “world” to “land” in Genesis 2 and in the story of Noah would be sufficient. Genesis 1 fits with natural history pretty well once you look at it from the perspective of someone with no science education watching the highlights of natural history from the viewpoint of standing on the surface of the earth. Reasons.org explains this pretty well as part of their progressive creationism. I prefer theistic evolution.

@Nick_Allen

I make five assumptions (at least). The first is that if you go outside in a pouring rain at twilight, the sky won’t look much like a dome, until the rain stops, at which time it will appear that the sky has been partitioned by a firmament (try it for yourself, I’ll hold the umbrella). The second assumption is that the earth’s atmosphere was overcast until the Great Oxidation Event and therefore, to an observer on the earth, the sun, moon and stars would not be visible until such an event (this is why it took so long for Galileo to catch on in London, they had never seen the sun). Third is that the 7 “days” described in Genesis 1 are actually 7 separate visions, given by God, to some nameless prophet, each of which emphasized or showed a different part of the development of our planet, and that this prophet then passed this information down in the ancient Hebrew oral tradition until it was written down by Moses. Fourth is that the prophet viewed these visions from the surface of the earth. Fifth is that the prophet had imperfect understanding (like everyone else in the Bible outside the Trinity) of what he saw in these visions and God did not narrate or explain to this prophet what it actually was that the prophet was seeing. Thus we get:

First vision. 4.55 billion years ago - Formation of the Solar System. “void” timeline First vision. 4.55 billion years agoSunlight first reaches the surface of the rotating earth through the thick atmosphere. "Light"Solar System Formation: Protoplanets and Proto-Jupiter - Windows to the Universe

Second Vision. 3.8 billion years ago, it finally stops raining at the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment. “vault” BBC Earth | Environment, Climate Change, AI, Food, Health, Social, & Technology

Third Vision. 3 billion years ago - Formation of the first known continent, Ur. “land”Third Vision. 2.7 billion years ago the earliest photosynthetic cyanobacteria appear. “plants” BBC Earth | Environment, Climate Change, AI, Food, Health, Social, & Technology

Fourth Vision. 2.4 billion years ago - The Great Oxidation Event: the Earth’s atmosphere gets oxygen. The sun, moon and stars are clearly visible for the first time from the surface of the earth. “lights”

Fifth Vision. 670 million years ago - First animals. 490 million years ago, jawless fish, To 150 million years ago - First birds. “fish and birds”

Sixth Vision. 114 million years ago - First modern mammals. “animals”

Seventh Vision. 5 million years ago - Humans split off from other apes (gorillas and chimpanzees). “male and female he created them”

Since the earth is old, why would God not have used evolution to create mankind and the animals that we see today? It is not the case that God only makes miracles instantaneously.

Mark 8: 22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into[a] the village.”

John 9:4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

The same people who complain that evolution is too bloodthirsty to have come from God are the same people who know all of the words to “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood”. Evolution is not contrary to the nature of God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b25-LJjrGQA