Today we'll begin to consider interpretive options for the first chapter of Genesis. We'll see three main groupings of theories, including those that propose a young earth of only thousands of years, those that see the earth as old (billions of years), and those that are compatible with either. After introducing the main options, Will Barlow goes on to explore young-earth creationism. He presents the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Lastly, he shows why the "appearance of age" hypothesis fails to convince him.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9xyFXqh5xw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

See below for notes.

—— Links ——

• We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out!
• See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class
• Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes
• Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church
• Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith
• Support Restitutio by donating here
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• Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF
• Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air
• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.
• Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

—— Notes ——

What have we seen so far?

Genesis was written to a group of ancient people coming out of slavery

The questions that they were asking of the text are different than the questions that we ask

How can we read Genesis 1?

Does Genesis 1 begin with a continuous narrative or is there an initial creation in verse 1 followed by a “re-creation” or “reconstitution”?

• “Gap” theory says the latter
• Most other views take the former

How can we read Genesis 1?

How do we read the word day? Is a day a literal 24-hour period of time? Or is it something else?

• YEC and “gap” theory view the word “day” as a literal 24 hour period
• Most other views either don’t require a day to be a specific length of time or say it is a longer period of time

How can we read Genesis 1?

Is Genesis 1 meant to be a description of creation itself? Or is it meant to describe how God ascribed function to already existing systems?

• “Modified gap” theory and Walton’s “Temple” theory both focus on Genesis 1 describing function, not creation
• Most other views take Genesis 1 to be describing creation

How can we read Genesis 1?

How importantly should we weigh the