Creation
Context of Genesis
• Genesis (and the rest of the Pentateuch) written
over a long period of time. This includes
elements written during Babylonian captivity.
• Genesis is divided between a primeval history
before Abraham and a history of the patriarchs
beginning with Abraham. This means even
within Genesis, symbolic language would be
used differently in the primeval history than it
would be for the history of the patriarchs.
History before History
• Genesis offers a primeval history- or a history
before history.
• The first part of Genesis makes heavy use of
mythological language which is heavily packed
loaded symbolism.
• For Genesis, the literal sense of Scripture is the
very tip of the iceberg. The deepest most
important lessons need to be unpacked.
Creation According to the Neighbors
• The Creation accounts in Scripture are heavily
influenced by the creation myths of the
surrounding cultures.
• In many ways, Genesis is a story about how the
Jewish people are unique and how God is above
any of the other gods in the area.
• Babylon in particular needed to be answered
because at the time of writing the Creation
accounts, the Jews were in captivity in Babylon
Marduk VS Tiamat
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Creation is born from violence.
The gods are annoyed by their
creations.
The world is a gutted corpse
and you are born from the
blood of a dragon goddess of
chaos.
The Greeks really weren’t much
better…
Cronos Devours His Child
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Cycle of war and patricide.
There is always a force looking
to seize power- the world is in
conflict.
There is a god eating his kids…
I don’t think we can stress that
enough.
Every new life/generation
seems to be at war or a threat
to the previous one.
Human reason is the result of
theft.
Now let’s read Genesis 1
Compare and Contrast
• Creation is good!
• Creation is ordered, there is no war, there is no
conflict built into creation.
• The sun, moon and earth are all created by God
out of nothing.
▫ These things that are the gods that are doing the
creating in other cultures are made by God out of
nothing.
▫ Without God, there is nothing.
Order and Fill/Bring Life
• Day 1-3
• Day 4-6
• God brings order and life into creation, creating
a space and then filling it.
• God continues to bring order and life into
creation after the Creation Story.
Let’s read Gen. 2
“Let us make man in our Image…”
• CCC 356
• CCC 357
• Man alone among all of physical creation is in
possession of an immortal and rational soul.
• Let’s take a quiz to explore what that means:
“It is not good that the man should be
alone.”
• Man alone among physical creation is destined
to spend eternity with God in Heaven.
• Man alone has the ability to reason- he can
recognize what is good and choose it freely for
himself.
• This means that man alone is capable of
following God’s plan of self-sacrificial love for
them.
Freedom: For or From?
• Freedom of indifference
• Positive freedom
A Case for Positive Freedom
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Why did God give you eyes? The ability to speak?
Why did God give us the ability to choose?
Jer. 29:11
Romans 6:12-23
▫ Romans 6:20-21?
▫ Romans 6:17- Can you be obedient AND free?
• St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O
Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in
you.”
• Freedom with purpose, freedom to choose life over
death.
• Game of Thrones- “All Men must serve.”
What is the right answer?
• Are freedom of indifference and positive
freedom opposites?
• Is this an either/or question?
• The Catholic answer:
“Out of the dust from the ground…”
• Man is not foreign to the world he inhabits- he is
part of the natural world.
• Evolution vs creation?
“And they were naked without
shame.”
• Man and woman had nothing to fear from each
other’s gaze.
• Attraction without lust.
• Desire in its context.
• 1 John 4:18
“And let them have dominion…”
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What is a steward?
Gen. 2:5
Gen. 2:19-20
Man’s role in creation mirrors
God’s.
• Like father like son…