EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



cloaks in the veil of mystery, obscurity, and implausibility. 

 B. First Account: Origin o[ the Universe 



The first chapter of Genesis, along with the first four and a 

 half verses of the second chapter, incorporates a fragment of 

 the Sacerdotal or Priestly tradition. The author chose this 

 fragment because he saw in it a statement of fundamental 

 truths which he regarded as the indispensable basis for the 

 religious history he was setting out to compose. At the same 

 time he perceived that it was a good, interesting description 

 of the origins of the universe arranged artistically and 

 embellished with many dramatic features likely to arouse and 

 hold the attention of his readers. 



In the beginning God created heaven and earth. At first 

 the earth was an empty waste, shrouded in darkness; but God 

 spoke, and light appeared. Then during a succession of six 

 days, God uttered His creative Fiat again and again; land 

 appeared, and so did the seas, the sun, the moon, and the 

 stars, follov/ed by vegetation, fish, birds, animals, and finally 

 man, who was made in the image and likeness of God. At the 

 close of the six days God rested, and the universe, off to a 

 good start, set out on its long course. 



This distribution of the work of creation over six days is a 

 literary device, furnishing a popular but satisfactory frame- 

 work for the classification of the various elements making up 

 the universe as it was then known. To understand the passage 

 we must abandon all attempt to detect in it any concordism 

 with present scientific knowledge, for it was drawn up 

 according to scientific notions still in infancy. Its aim is to 

 teach, not chronology or science, but the basic truth that the 

 universe with all its parts, and all the creatures inhabiting 

 those parts, were made by God. 



Throughout the narrative the dominant concern is religious, 

 not scientific. Genesis has nothing to tell us about the structure 

 of the universe or the processes of its development. The author 

 had no thought of inquiring whether the setting he designed 

 for his religious teaching corresponded or not with objective 

 reality; this aspect of the question did not figure in the 

 religious plan he had conceived, and is not connected with the 

 purpose that induced him to write. 



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