A question about Genesis

[Binary]

The wording of Gen. 9:15 has me a bit confused. “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”

What bothers me is that this wording seems to imply that there was a historical world-wide flood. Lack of scientific evidence for this aside, it was my impression that the teaching of the church about genesis was that it’s not to be interpreted strictly literally. Still, the phrasing leaves little room for interpretation in my mind. I don’t want to split hairs here. I’m assuming there is a simple explanation for this that I’m just not seeing.

 

[thistle]

Binary:

The wording of Gen. 9:15 has me a bit confused. “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”

What bothers me is that this wording seems to imply that there was a historical world-wide flood. Lack of scientific evidence for this aside, it was my impression that the teaching of the church about genesis was that it’s not to be interpreted strictly literally. Still, the phrasing leaves little room for interpretation in my mind. I don’t want to split hairs here. I’m assuming there is a simple explanation for this that I’m just not seeing.

I’m sure some posters will help you out but there are other threads on this subject currently running if you want to do a search.

 

[patg]

Take a look at “Global Flood?” under Apologetics - hundreds of pages of lively discussion on this topic! Of course the bottom line is that there is no absolute church teaching on this subject so you won’t get a definitive answer.

 

[Orogeny]

Binary:

Lack of scientific evidence for this aside, it was my impression that the teaching of the church about genesis was that it’s not to be interpreted strictly literally.

I don’t believe that the Church has said that you can’t interpret Genesis literally. The important point is the message, not the history.

Peace

Tim

 

[Crumpy]

Bible scholars are all over the map on the historicity of Genesis. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, around paragraph 390 I think, says that wording of the early chapters of Genesis is figurative, but that it overlays actual events in the early history of mankind.

Fr. Jean Corbon in his book “Path to Freedom” gives a glancing explanation of the early chapters of Genesis. He describes the first three chapters of Genesis as a song, a poem, and a love story. He says these chapters were written around the time of the Babylonian exile, and are a reflection of the understanding of the Israelites about their beginnings and relationship to God.

These chapters are considered to be inspired by God, and trustworthy in what they teach about salvation. But, in their form, they were certainly not written as literal history. For example, the first chapter of Genesis is written by a narrator who was obviously not physically present at the time of the events that are being described. It’s neither literal history nor literal science.

Corbon’s book is an excellent spiritual insight on the Bible. It’s about $9 on the web. It’s a bit over my head as far as its style goes, took me a while to take it all in.

 

[thistle]

CCC 337 God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine “work”, concluded by the “rest” of the seventh day.204 On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation,205 permitting us to “recognize the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God.”

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

all does not always mean all. The historical context is a limited flood based on Noah’s knowledge of the world. Fundamentalists tell us that the flood happened about 6,000 years ago. Yet there is proof that people cross the straits into America’s about 20,000 years ago and that that the Prymids predate the flood.

 

[Binary]

Thanks for the great replies everyone. I usually use the search function when I have a question. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to do it with this one.

 

[spauline]

I’d say that the “Noah, etc., what is historical, in some sense, in the Bible?”-question makes me think more and more that the days of creation and heads of the beast as a symbolic blueprint for the “eight ages of the history of salvation” are really perhaps a valid theory for summarizing what God ultimately wishes us to get from history.