Science, Creation and the Bible

Reconciling Rival Theories of Origins

Richard F. Carlson, Tremper Longman III

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780830868155
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Théologie chrétienne

Many Christians are torn between their belief in the Bible and the conclusions of science. This is especially the case concerning the creation narratives of Scripture and the rather different stories that science tells.Physicist Richard Carlson and biblical scholar Tremper Longman address the longstanding problem of how to relate scientific description of the beginnings of the universe with the biblical creation passages found in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Experts in their respective fields, these two authors provide a way to resolve the seeming conflicting descriptions by showing the meaning of the biblical texts as well as the meaning of scientific description.In the process they will uncover

• how theology and science differ, and what they both contribute
• what the key biblical passages actually say
• how the ancient Hebrews themselves understood the meaning of Genesis 1--2
• how the rest of Scripture helps us understand these passages
• what we can gain from science and what its limits are

Properly interpreting the biblical texts and clearly identifying the nature of scientific claims are key. With those in hand we can see how Christian revelation and scientific findings about the origin of the universe are not in opposition but rather work in partnership with each other.

1

Theological and Scientific Sources and Their Interpretation

The analysis of the creation-evolution conflict begins by taking note of its origin, the information contained in the theological and scientific sources relevant to the problem. These and their conflicting interpretations constitute fundamental factors resulting in the conflict.

Theological Sources

The word genesis means origin. Most people regard Genesis 1 as the Bible’s account of creation. But a second creation account immediately follows in Genesis 2. A complete biblical understanding of creation requires awareness of all biblical writings about creation, analysis of which will be completed in due course.

The biblical translation used throughout this book is the New Living Translation of the Bible. This particular translation was chosen because of our confidence that the scholars who took part in translating and editing this version of the biblical text fulfill their purpose as stated in “A Note to Readers”:

The goal of any Bible translation is to convey the meaning and content of the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts as accurately as possible to contemporary readers. . . . The resulting translation is easy to read and understand, while also accurately communicating the meaning and content of the original biblical texts.[1]

Genesis 1.

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

6Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8God called the space “sky.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

9Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

13And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.

14Then God said, “Let great lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. 15Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16God made two great lights, the sun and the moon—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

20Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

23And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.

24Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

26Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

31Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Genesis 2.

1So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. The LORD God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river watered the garden and then flowed out of Eden and divided into four branches. 11The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

18Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23“At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone
and flesh from my flesh!

She will be called ‘woman,
because she was taken from ‘man.’”

24This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

Interpretation of Theological Sources

The familiar creation account sometimes referred to as the “Genesis 1 account” continues through Genesis 2:3. But Genesis 2:4-25 constitutes a second creation account, much to the surprise of many Christians.

The reader of a particular translation of the Bible depends on the accuracy of its translators. A higher level source may be found in the Hebrew version of the Old Testament, known as Biblia Hebraica Stutt­gartensia, and a contemporary version of the Greek New Testament such as the Nestle-Aland version. But most Christians do not read Hebrew or Greek and hence must depend on the quality of the chosen translation. Most modern English translations, including the New International Version, Today’s New International Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the English Standard Version and the New Living Translation all prove satisfactory for biblical passages regarding creation. The Genesis 1 and 2 texts just presented accurately represent the Hebrew and will serve well for the purposes of examining Genesis as a step in addressing the conflict.

Next we turn to a summary of four American viewpoints on the creation-evolution conflict.[2] Each point of view—creationism, intelligent design, partnership and independence—is associated with a distinct principle of biblical interpretation and evaluation of the relevant science. This provides background important to the resolution of the conflict.

Creationism arose after Darwin published his work that led to the development of the theory of evolution in the mid-nineteenth century. Many Christians have found his position to be a threat to the creation account in Genesis 1. These Christians understand the Bible to declare creation as occurring in six days with all entities created in their final form, and certainly not over long spans of time as Darwin concluded. Furthermore, they object to the idea that there was a common ancestor for all living beings, with the human family having emerged only at the end of a long and continuous development of life forms. Young-earth creationists read Genesis 1 in a literal way and conclude that the entire Bible must be so read except in the clear cases of parables. Creationists regard the Genesis 1 creation account to be historically and scientifically accurate in terms of modern knowledge. Advocates have sought to have creationism taught in public-school science classrooms but were dealt a severe blow by the Supreme Court’s 1987 Aguillard v. Louisiana decision declaring creationism to be a religious movement, and hence forbidden constitutionally for public-school science instruction.

Old-earth creationism is a related movement that interprets the six days of Genesis 1 as implying much longer periods of time in line with cosmologists and earth scientists. They join the young-earth creationists in denying the conclusions of evolutionary biological science. Conflict exists between biological science and all forms of creationism, and between young-earth creationism and physics, cosmology and earth science.

Intelligent design (ID) grew out of creationism after the Supreme Court’s Aguillard decision. Sympathetic with the anti-evolutionary stance of creationism, ID has attempted to avoid the appearance of the religious aspect of creationism that led to the Supreme Court’s decision. Intelligent design theorists make no comments regarding the Bible or God, for they strongly hope for ID to be accepted as a legitimately scientific enterprise. But a recent federal court decision in Dover, Pennsylvania, classified ID as a form of creationism. Although ID supporters make no comment regarding the identity of the designer of the universe, the only logical candidate being God has resulted in the declaration of ID as a religious movement like creationism. Currently ID supporters continue their attempt to prove the inadequacies of contemporary evolutionary science, in concert with creationist strategy.

The third American viewpoint regards theology and science as working together as partners. Here the adherents do not find modern science in Genesis. They view the creation passages in Genesis as laying down a foundation for a theology of creation. And hence partnership supporters read Genesis 1 and 2 in a nonliteral way.

The final viewpoint, with science and theology as legitimate but independent enterprises, also results in no conflict. M...