Creation

• Genesis

  First book of the Bible, means "beginning"
• Creation narrative in Genesis


  • Two creation accounts
  • Form of meditations on creation
  • Not literal scientific descriptions
• Catholic attitude to scripture

  • When reading scripture, try to understand what the writer meant to their original audience
  • Scripture has both divine and human authorship
• Genesis 1 creation account

  1. Six-day creation

  2. First three days - God forms the world

  3. Days four to six - God fills creation

  4. Man and women created together on sixth day
• Genesis 2 creation account

  1. One day of creation

  2. God creates man

  3. God creates animals

  4. God creates woman as companion for man
• What the creation accounts teach about God

  • God is the creator
  • God is transcendent
  • God is omnipotent
  • God is benevolent
• What the creation accounts teach about humans

  • Humans are made in the image of God
  • Humans are sacred
  • Humans are the pinnacle of creation
  • Humans are free
  • Humans are stewards of creation
• Differences between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 creation accounts
• Reading the creation accounts in context allows us to see the differences as ways the authors emphasize different aspects of God and humanity
• Genesis 2 portrays a more personal, anthropomorphic God, while Genesis 1 emphasizes God's transcendent power
• Sections of the Bible

  • Old Testament
  • New Testament
• Old Testament

  • Written in Hebrew
  • Contains 39 books
  • Written between approximately 1200 BC and 200 BC
• New Testament

  • Written in Greek
  • Contains 27 books
  • Written between 50 and 100 AD
• Main sections of the Old Testament

  • Law
  • History
  • Prophecy
  • Wisdom
• Law

  The first five books of the Bible, sometimes known as Torah, including the creation accounts and God's commandments for the Israelites
• History

  Starting with Moses and his successor Joshua, telling the story of the Israelites over about six or seven centuries including the many Jewish kings
• Prophecy

  Prophets were called to remind the Jews of God's covenant, calling them to remain faithful to God in the present to receive God's blessing in the future
• Wisdom

  The collected wisdom of the Israelites, including the Psalms, Proverbs, and reflections on love, life, and suffering
• Main sections of the New Testament

  • Gospels
  • Book of Acts
  • Epistles
  • Book of Revelation
• Gospels

  Biographical accounts of the life of Jesus
• Book of Acts

  An account of the early church, written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke
• Epistles

  Letters written by the Apostles to instruct and encourage the early church community
• Book of Revelation

  An apocalyptic vision, written by the Apostle John
• How the Bible as we know it today came to exist

  1. Spoken word of mouth

  2. Written down by someone with skills and resources

  3. Gathered together in the early church
• Jesus did not have four people following him writing everything down as he said it, but rather people passed on the events orally for years before they were written down
• Whenever a new document, such as a letter from an Apostle, was written, duplicates would be made so that each church could have a copy
• The church met to agree which texts should be considered authoritative and become part of the official canon of Scripture
• Catholic view of the Bible

  The Bible has a dual authorship - it is both human and divine
• The Catechism says the Bible is the words of God expressed in the words of men
• This is different to the views towards holy books in other religions, where the scripture is seen as wholly from God (Islam, Mormonism) or solely written by humans (Buddhism)
• Understanding scripture

  We must attempt to understand the mind of the author, including their culture, audience, and purpose for writing
• The authors were children of their time, sharing the cultural ideas of the world around them and often dominated by its errors
• In 3000 BC, most people believed the sky was a semi-permeable dome that held up water, as described in Genesis 1:7, but we now know this is factually incorrect
• Nevertheless, the theological truth that God is the Creator is still present in the scriptures
• Divine authorship of the Bible

  Catholics treat the Bible as the Word of God, believing that God speaks to the church and to Christians through the Scriptures because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit
• The Vatican 2 document 'Dei Verbum' states that everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, and that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully, and without error the truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of salvation
• Saint Paul wrote that all Scripture is divinely inspired or God-breathed (1 Timothy 3:16)
• Stewardship

  The job of supervising or taking care of something on behalf of someone else
• In the context of creation, stewardship is the idea or belief that human beings have been called by God to look after creation
• Humans are called to look after the planet even though they do not own it and ensure that everyone can enjoy the benefits of creation