Mission and remission (Gen 1-11)

Over the years, I’ve thought very differently about the early chapters of Genesis, which I guess isn’t unusual.

When I was a teenager, and in my early, impassioned days of really trying to follow Jesus, I was taught to read the early Genesis accounts literally, as a matter of principle. I still remember my A-level English teacher’s incredulity that someone with half a brain would do that.

Years later I did a theology class on early Genesis and learnt about creation myths, and how they were fairly standard in Ancient Near-Eastern religion, with certain stock elements, and the point was not to tell a literal story, but to communicate in a shared language what was unique about your God, and how he/she/they related to humanity.

I read that Genesis wasn’t even written first, that a lot of scholars really treat Exodus as the first book of the Jewish Scriptures, the beginning of the story of Yahweh’s people.

Working for a Christians NGO, I guess I’m currently in a phase of reading everything through the lens of mission. I read Genesis 1-3 and see what God purposed for the world, what it looks like when it works, and the mission he gave human beings. I read Genesis 3-11 in dismay, as a picture of the wonder and potential of life in God’s creation becoming increasingly and irrevocably tangled up with revenge and violence and greed. And being out for yourself. Which is depressingly familiar. I see growth and expansion (and procreation) racing on with little heed to God’s majestic rhythms and creativity.

But as I come back to it again at the beginning of 2009 I still find myself bewildered by what a lot of it’s all about. Maybe I need to read some archetypal flood narratives to work out what’s important about that particular bit – because human beings afterwards don’t seem to be that much nicer than they were before. And the idea of God’s thinking evolving – hey, I’ll wipe them out with a flood, oh ok, won’t do that again (promise!), let’s try a new idea – well, it seems to say more about humanity and our understanding of the world than God’s.

And why do they all live so long? (Were their years just shorter?)

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How interesting! Jenny, you

Submitted by Justina Maija on Thu, 08/01/2009 - 11:14.

How interesting!
Jenny, you made some really good points in your post.
I think the early chapters of Genesis are the ones I really struggle with most , but what you learnt in your theology class - about 'creation myths' and how they were standard at the time is so important. (And the fact that the actual point was NOT to tell a literal story....!)
We totally have to take into account what was going on in the context of the time the scriptures were put to paper.
This has really given me some food for thought. =)

I can relate to the

Submitted by Matt C on Mon, 12/01/2009 - 20:41.

I can relate to the perspective of seeing this account through different eyes/ in different ways as my life and faith journey have evolved. Its certainly becoming more widely accepted and acknowledged at a popular level that Exodus and not Genesis was the first written account in scripture (See Rob Bell's excellent and challenging new book Jesus wants to save Christians, with Don Golden for more on that!) but having said that in a Heroes esque kind of way I still love some of the ethos behind Genesis, of origins, of creation, of knowing that whilst we don't need to take the account literally we can still draw on so much good and truth from it and wrestle with it and in no way devalue the text and its ethos by doing that! It is hard reading it again and then forwarding to now, where so quickly something that is good can descend into chaos and confusion and problems. Zimbabwe really springs to mind, but equally how easily I can start a day with a new beginning and good intentions and by mid morning its so much more messy and screwed up than I ever intended it to be!