Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Week 2 notes

This week we are reading chapters 5-7 which cover the multitude of interpretations of Genesis 1-2 and evidence for an old earth.  In chapter 5, which covers concordist interpretations, we'll get some basic history of how the YEC and OEC views/movements got their start. Chapter 6 will cover non-concordist interpretations.

Make sure to read Genesis 1-2 and Psalm 104 as suggested in chapter 5. When we meet, I would like for us to read Genesis 1-3 together and take note of some of the interesting features that the different interpretations highlight.

Moving over to God's world, chapter 7 provides evidence in support of an old earth.  If you typically stick with Apologia/AiG etc for your science curriculum, this chapter might be new material for you. Likewise, the following two chapters on evolution will at least be new for some in that they are presented by Christian authors who hold an EC view and don't find a necessary conflict between evolution and creation.

It's good to be familiar with the evidence the authors present even if you favor a YEC view. Reading the explanations and arguments for a particular view directly from someone who holds that view helps me by reducing the chance that I will dismiss a view based on a caricature/straw man. Interacting with the best evidence also helps me see why a view is persuasive to many people even if I myself don't hold that view.

Also these next two times we meet, I'll be bringing in a few additional resources that I've found helpful in exploring these issues...both theology and science.  So if you have some great resources you'd like to share with the group, bring them along!

Edited: Corrected wrong chapter numbers, sorry!  Maybe you now have some of next week's reading done :)

No comments:

Post a Comment