"Contradictions" in Genesis

[PhanxicoXavier]

(First of all, I believe that Genesis is meant to be taken literally, reject evolution, and believe in the “young earth” model)

I’ve heard that there are “contradictions” in the Book of Genesis - where are they (if they exist), and how does the Church explain them?

 

[Richard_James]

There are two major contradictions, one is that in the first story man and women are made together. In the second they are made separate. The second is that in the second story man comes before vegetation.

 

[Robbinson]

(First of all, I believe that Genesis is meant to be taken literally, reject evolution, and believe in the “young earth” model)

I’ve heard that there are “contradictions” in the Book of Genesis - where are they (if they exist), and how does the Church explain them?

If you read the first several chapters of Genesis, you will find two different descriptions of creation. Some point to contradiction - another explanation is that they are written from different perspectives to teach different lessons.

As to the “literal interpretation” - Catholic theology gives one liberty to read the story as literal (young earth) or as allegorical in part (e.g., each year is an age) but that there really was an Adam and an Eve who may have been created from earth (literal) or who were the first with a human soul.

Personally, I am not sure - I lean more to the each “day” is an “age” theory, but who knows?

Blessings,

Brian

 

[peary1]

(First of all, I believe that Genesis is meant to be taken literally, reject evolution, and believe in the “young earth” model)

I’ve heard that there are “contradictions” in the Book of Genesis - where are they (if they exist), and how does the Church explain them?

First of all, I do not believe that the book of Genesis is meant to be taken literally. Also, I do not feel it is necessary to reject evolution, and I do not believe in the “young earth” model.

The first chapter of Genesis is actually a direct response to Mesopotamian pagan beliefs about the earth, how it was formed, and the relationship existing between the gods and humankind. Chapter 2 is very specific on the creation of man and woman. Humanity, through them, is given a special task. People are not created as monsters or as whims of the gods. They were created in the spiritual image of the Creator. God gave them authority over the natural world. People are responsible for the well-being and prosperity of those whom they rule. Chapter 2 sets the basis for the beginnings of God’s Chosen People.

What is implicit in being made in the image and likeness of God is the ability to communicate through language. The succession of human generations is a succession of names. The succession of names is the origin of human history. When understood in this way, there is no contradiction in Genesis, just enlightment and revelation.

Genesis is not a science text. It is an ancient Semitic cosmology that contradicts and answers the beliefs of the pagan Mesopotamian culture that existed at that time.

Do I believe that the origin of humanity resides in an Adam and Eve - a first man and first woman? Yes. A very informative book on what we now know about the early years of humanity through genetic understanding is *The Seven Daughters of Eve *by Bryan Sykes.

The Catholic Church neither endorses nor rejects evolution. What it does maintain is that the *soul *is a creation of God and not a product of the evolutionary process.

What we know about the earth through geological science is that our planet is at least 4.5 to 4.6 billion years old. I do not see how this would contradict one’s Faith in either God or in Jesus Christ. It certainly hasn’t affected mine in a negative manner. In fact, it has strengthened it.

 

[diggerdomer]

(First of all, I believe that Genesis is meant to be taken literally, reject evolution, and believe in the “young earth” model)

I’ve heard that there are “contradictions” in the Book of Genesis - where are they (if they exist), and how does the Church explain them?

If you believe it literally, then what contradictions are there?

 

[bpbasilphx]

Even if the physical bodies of our species evolved, there STILL had to be a first male and first female Homo sapiens. And evolution does NOT explain the origin of the soul.

All we can say for sure is that Adam and Eve–who are not mentioned by name until Genesis 2–are the first people of spiritual significance with “living souls.”