Class notes from September 16

Harrell Guard led us in a presentation of facts and historical frameworks for our study of Creation stories.

After noting that Genesis is a book of beginnings: the creation, a new beginning (Noah), a new people (Hebrews), and a consciousness of their (Hebrew) unique relationship with God, historical facts relative to Genesis were presented: many versions were circulating with no authorized (canonized*) version until almost 900 A.D., and authorship was multiple in nature. We also examined various view points of inspiration.** We considered questions about how the two creation stories are different -- such as order of events, and different names for God. Cultural influences would account for some differences. We noted other Biblical examples recording more than one version of the same story, such as the birth of Jesus in the Gospels. The major focus of both versions of the creation story was the key message of the lesson: the relationship of human beings to God. Next week will focus on what each creation story tells us about our relationship with God, and place in creation.

*"Canon" comes from an ancient word referring to a measuring reed; hence means a standard of measurement, in this case standards applied to the inclusion of particular ancient texts in what eventually has come to be the modern Bible. We noted the Canon of Scripture is different for Protestants and Catholics, as the latter include the Apocriphal writings as sacred text.
** Modern Christians have different understandings of "inspiration", lit. "Breathed into" or, in context, "God breathed", referring to how the Holy Spirit is involved in the creation of Scripture. Three different understandings are: 1. Every individual word is inspired, implying that God wrote the Bible more or less directly; 2. The Spirit spoke through individuals who wrote the books; thus the writers, not the particular words, are inspired; 3. The Spirit worked through communities of faithful, thus the books are products of "body life" of people of faith.