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…