Genesis, History, and Morality (Schaeffer)

 If a person denies the factual historicity of Genesis 1-3 that person has cut himself or herself off from some of the major truths of biblical Christianity.  Others have explained this well: if you deny the fact that Adam was a historical human being, you are far out of step with Jesus' teaching (Mt. 19:5) …

The Original Homeland of Man

The following paragraph from Kingdom Prologue is one that I've appreciated for a long time: The original homeland of man might well have been named Immanuel.  God was with man, man's dwelling-place was God's dwelling-place.  That was the greatest glory of paradise and the supreme and ultimate blessedness of human life.  The covenant servant had …

Mesopotamian Myths and the Genesis Flood

Bruce Walke wrote a nice piece comparing and contrasting the Mesopotamian flood myths and the Biblical account of the flood.  Here it is (most of it, anyway): “There are three Mesopotamian myths: 1) the Sumerian account with the hero Ziusdra, 2)the Old Akkadian account with the hero Atrahasis, and 3) the Old Babylonian account with …

Walking On The Sea In Royal Freedom

In III.1 of Church Dogmatics Karl Barth spends quite a bit of time discussing the text of Genesis 1 and the days of creation.  In his discussion of day 3 and the separating of the waters from land (Gen. 1:9-10), Barth elaborates on the “waters” in a fascinating (sort of) redemptive historical way (III.i.IX.41.1).  Notice …

The Miraculous Nature of the OT

 Nahum Sarna’s Understanding Genesis (New York: Schocken Books, Inc. 1966) is a great resource for studying the first book of the Bible from a Jewish perspective.  I especially liked the introduction, where Sarna talks about OT studies in general in light of higher criticism and fundamentalism.  In one section of the introduction, Sarna explains how …