What We Forget about Creation

Sometimes Christians treat Genesis 1-3 as a kind of prolegomenon to the biblical narrative. These chapters are important, it is thought, primarily to set the stage for the real business of Christian theology—those issues involved in the doctrine of redemption. Moreover, when we do engage the theology of creation more directly, our interest tends to…
Creation & Time in Basil’s Hexaemeron

Basil is finding a new level of popularity in young-earth creationist (YEC) writings, and no wonder. He explicitly turns away from the allegorical approach that led Origen and later Augustine to embrace instantaneous creation, and professes a literalism in his Homilies on the Hexaemeron that seems to spare Genesis 1 from the sorts of interpretive…
Origen: Decoding Genesis

Modern readers typically view the Genesis creation narratives through the lens of science. Does the text confirm or contradict contemporary scientific accounts of the origin of life? If the former, the reader attempts to demonstrate their congruence; if the latter, the reader either rejects the prevailing scientific consensus or rejects the veracity of scripture, at…
Irenaeus: Creation & the Father’s Two Hands

Irenaeus did not author a commentary on Genesis, as did other early Christian thinkers. Nor did he write as much about the creative activity of God as other early theologians. But no early Christian used creation to such advantage as Irenaeus of Lyons. To appreciate what Irenaeus made of the creative activity of God it…