This just in ....
http://www.dailyglobal.com/2009/10/god-is-not-the-creator-claims-academic/
Turns out that we're not the only ones trying to figure this thing out. So is Ellen J. van Wolde, and she's doing in Hebrew and Dutch. Apparently, she thinks the first line should be read as "In the beginning, God separated the heaven from the earth". She seems to think this is radical because it implies that the earth was already there, so God didn't create it. Of course, this is pretty much what I wrote a few weeks ago when I got to the eighth verse:
http://beret-sheet.blogspot.com/2009/09/second-day.html
The short form is that the only way to make sense of the description of God creating heaven in verses 6 - 8 was to interpret the first verse as introductory, which makes the second verse really the beginning of the story. And the second verse describes the earth as "formless, empty, dark, watery" (in my words). So, "In the beginning" just means the beginning of the story. And God comes off more like a talented builder than a magical creator.
But it's nice to see that someone who is actually qualified is sorting this out the same way.
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This is going to bring up a lot of issues. Will the leaders of Christianity and Judaism allow someone to change the first verse of the Bible.
ReplyDeleteAnd if it can be changed, then that means that the Bible is just a regular book that can be revised over time.