The way of imagination

·        What is at stake in our understanding of Genesis chapter 1? o    The “inspiration” of Scripture? §   The trustworthiness/accuracy of the Bible? o    2 equal and opposite errors to avoid in interpreting Gn. 1 ( we “know” what happened ) §   We “know” that Gn. 1 tells us exactly how the universe came into existence and that modern scientific theories are nonsense.  ·         (This error assumes extra-biblical categories of thought; we assume that the Bible gives us the kind of information that modernity tells us we need to have in order to be confident that what we are affirming is true) §   We “know” that modern cosmology tells us exactly how the universe came into existence and that the Genesis story is nonsense.  ·         (modern cosmological theories and Gn. 1 are both stories; scientists must assume the physic...

This mystery .  Today is Day 6 of Advent, the season where we are preparing to celebrate the central mystery of our Christian faith – the moment when God became man, the moment of the incarnation.  Christmas is the time of year when we are reminded that what sets us apart – as Christians – from all other religious believers is the strange series of stories that begins with what we celebrate today.  The one thing, above all, that makes Christianity unique among all the religions of the world is the fact that we never speak about God without also speaking about a human being – Jesus of Nazareth.  And we can’t speak about Jesus without speaking of his mother – Mary of Nazareth.  And we can’t speak of Mary without speaking of how God prepared her to be the theotokos – the “God-bearer”.  That the Creator would become a man, that God would have a mother – these are strange ideas, they might even strike us as being impossible .  It might be helpful f...

     In today’s passage, the tragic narrative of Genesis 3 – 11 finally turns the corner.  With the call of Abram, hope is restored for a future where the Creator’s project for humanity can go forward… RECAPPING…      Genesis 3: Out of Eden.   The first two humans in the biblical narrative disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil (Gn. 3.1-7).  In his (merciful) judgment, God then threw the man and the woman out of the Garden of Eden, thereby removing their access to the Tree of Life and thus preventing them from attaining to immortality in their rebellious state (Gn. 3.22-24).  Even in the midst of judgment, the Creator remains committed to his creatures, and does not destroy them for their rebellion, but rather takes a fatherly stance vis-à-vis the primal pair and clothes them in animal skins and directs them toward an – admittedly harsh – future, but a future nonetheless....