Faith Statement
The opening chapter of Scripture has been easy prey for those who have wished either to debunk it or to support it as science. A strange unity exists between the deniers and affirmers of the scientific, factual accuracy of Genesis 1.

On the one hand, some evolutionary scientists disparagingly refer to the ostensible teachings of Genesis 1 as unscientific, that is, as contrary to what we have learned to be true by science. Charles Darwin exemplifies this in his description of his journey from belief in Christianity to disbelief. Tacitly assuming that his observations on natural history and the Bible's presentation of primeval history (Gen 1-11) are in the same 'scientific' ballpark, he asserts that what we have in the Bible is a "manifestly false history of the world".

On the other hand, some creationists, claiming the primacy, sufficiency and absolute authority of Scripture, seek rather ingeniously to stretch what Genesis 1 says to accommodate it to the contemporary, scientific picture of the world.

Both groups, in their own way, measure Genesis 1 in terms of science and interpret its language in a literalistic fashion, rather than getting at what it literally intended. Both have given away the store of the chapter's real meaning either through cynical rejection or strained accommodation.

I do not believe that Genesis 1 should be part of what has been commonly described as "the battle between science and religion". It is wide of the mark to question whether this chapter is good or bad science or to believe that since its composition long ages ago Genesis 1 has awaited the advent of modern science to discern its meaning and determine its veracity. As a matter of fact, the teaching about creation represented in Genesis 1 has had fundamental significance for science in that its desacralizing of nature has contributed to the objective study of the natural world rather than the idolatrous worship of it. This needs amplification, but here it is sufficient to say that biblical creation faith not only rejects past idolatry but represents a warning against the modern idolatry of allocating to any area of human study an autonomous role and making it the hermeneutical key for unlocking all knowledge. If it is true, as Genesis 1 affirms, that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", and as Genesis 2:1 declares, "Thus the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed", then there is no aspect of human existence and study, the horizontal dimension, which should be conducted independently of the vertical dimension, that which concerns us ultimately.

I contend that Genesis 1 is not unscientific, that is, contrary to science, but nonscientific, that is, having other, more transcendent interests. It is primarily a religious statement which, with its doxological feel, rhythmic cadences and repetitions, has its home in worship (see Pss 29, 33 and 104) rather than in any scientific arena. As a conveyance for its primary teaching, Genesis 1 assumes a geocentric cosmology, according to which the earth "originally submerged in the waters of the deep, the great tehom" (Gen 1:2) rests upon the waters below (see Ps 24:2), which have been separated from the waters above by means of an intervening firmament or expanse (raquia in Hebrew). In this expanse, created on the second day and identified with the heavens in Genesis 1:8, 14, 15 and 17, the heavenly bodies "sun, moon and stars" move back and forth, shedding light upon earth and marking out the boundaries of time.

This geocentric understanding, based upon common observation and now succeeded by scientific observation, is not the point of Genesis 1, but is the vessel Israel used to express its faith in God as Creator of all things in contrast to paganism with its many gods and creators. It would be unjustified to consider Genesis 1 wrong because a geocentric perspective underlies it. Its message completely transcends the limited vehicle transmitting it. Paul was right (beyond his own immediate reference), "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Cor 4:7). Utilizing an ancient, prescientific cosmology, Genesis 1 teaches a perpetually valid theology. This theology is not subject to the ever-developing views of science, and hence does not need to be readjusted to any current version of scientific cosmology

The big problem for Genesis 1 and its original audience was not science but the religious issue of monotheism versus idolatrous polytheism. Monotheism had to win its way against great odds ever since the forced stay of Israel in Egypt. The battle between the one God of Israel and the many gods of the pagan world was Israel's concern. All one has to do is study the mythical systems of thought, worship and ritual which surrounded Israel to see what really was at stake. They would have been puzzled by our scientific debates about creation. Science and the study of natural history, as carried on today, did not exist for biblical people. These people were intellectually and spiritually gifted to be sure (as Thomas Cahill's book, The Gift of the Jews, evidences), but they did not establish their understanding of the universe and its laws on the critical, analytical use of empirical data derived from sophisticated techniques of observation. The thinking and expression of biblical people was pictorial and poetic, concrete rather than abstract. This kind of speech surely has other (valid) purposes than does the language of science. Scientific and literalistic approaches to Genesis 1 tend to miss the forest for the trees and to underplay the major thrust of the chapter, the confessional, which is meaningful, inspiring and enduring. In this way the biblical message of the chapter and its relevance for contemporary thought and life are mitigated or negated

Much of our approach as creationists is apologetic. We seem more afraid of what we are going to lose than excited over what we are going to gain when the biblical account is interpreted in its own historical ?and literary context. What we have in Genesis 1 is a religious or faith statement containing theological affirmation rather than scientific delineation. This affirmation has the capacity to transform lives because ?it places the creature in relation to the Creator and his purpose for the world.

Polemical Implications
Genesis 1 is a very positive, majestic, and serene expression of faith. Its polemical elements are indirect and subtle, implicit rather than explicit, and subservient to faith in the one God of creation. But precisely in giving positive expression to Israel's faith in God, Genesis 1 necessarily stands over against the alien views of its neighbors. Israel has heard other stories and says in effect: "Here is what we believe rather than that Genesis 1, in affirming God as sole Creator, represents the challenge of biblical/Hebraic faith to the cosmogonies existing in the various regions of the ancient world, from Egypt to Babylon. It is a positive expansion of 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me'." 

Creation and Redemption
Recognizing the literary connection of Genesis 1 with the rest of Genesis and Exodus is an important preliminary to discerning the meaning of the chapter. Within this larger perspective Genesis 1 does not appear as an independent contemplation on origins, but as an introduction to the primeval history (Gen 2-11) and salvation history (Gen 12 forward)

As we read the whole story in Genesis and then Exodus, it seems clear that the movement of the primeval history in Genesis 1-11, which describes not only God's good creation, but mankind's rebellion, is toward the decisive moment described in Genesis 12, which pictures the call of Abraham and the covenant promise to him that all families of the earth would be blessed in (through) him. This determinative moment is succeeded by another, recounted in Exodus, when Israel becomes God's consecrated covenant community and receives the reiteration of the covenant and the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Thus the narrative sequence found in Genesis through Exodus indicates that its interest lies in the redemptive meaning of Israel's history. What Scripture is after in this history, particularly in Genesis 1, is the foundation for understanding who Israel is, who stands behind her, and what her relation to the world is. Through being Creator of the world, Israel's God is the guarantor of her existence and the world's blessing. Thus the creation story in Genesis 1 is foundational to understanding the creation of Israel and its salvific function for the whole world.

This means that the redemption of Israel is really the context for talking about the creation of the world. In a way, Genesis 12 and the following chapters through the book of Exodus could be read before Genesis 1-11. In Israel, creation faith is seen through the prism of exodus or redemptive faith. Israel, as God's people, was literally created by redemption, as is directly stated in Isaiah 43:1-2 and Exodus 15:16. Israel's own creation was the presupposition for its faith affirmation that God created the world. It should be kept in mind that redemption is the key theme of the entire Bible

It is in harmony with this that the early Israelite confession of faith described in Deuteronomy 16:5-10 and amplified in Joshua 24 begins not with creation but with the mighty acts of God in the Exodus. Israel as a group of slaves, a nonentity, was, so to speak, created out of nothing by the word of God through Moses. Since the entire world was to be blessed by God through Israel, this means that the reality of creation undergirding Israel is that which supports all people. This universal perspective is found in Genesis 1-11, which does not single out Israel but is concerned with all of humanity. It is these people God wishes to redeem. Thus creation and redemption are forever linked. Only in connection with redemption is the intent of Genesis 1 clearly seen. The power of redemption lies in the hand of him who created all.

When one comes to this point, he or she is ready to study the theology of Genesis 1 and, above all, to be challenged by its existential relevance. The opening chapter of Scripture calls to faith in the God who, because he brought order out of chaos in creation, can do the same in our concrete lives as we face the powers and problems of human existence. 

Dr. Ivan T. Blazen is professor of biblical interpretation and theology in the faculty of religion, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif. He holds his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

NOTES
1 The Autobiography of Charles Darwin: 1809-1882, ed. Nora Barlow (W. W. Norton and Co, 1958), 85.