tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post3634196986241080237..comments2023-06-16T07:01:52.541-07:00Comments on The Blog of Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb: Is Genesis 1 Poetry?TMWHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06807155020816222182noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-10215664628734138492008-01-30T12:43:00.000-08:002008-01-30T12:43:00.000-08:00James,I am not an evolutionist, though I do not fi...James,<br>I am not an evolutionist, though I do not find discussion of the issue offensive or out of place amongst Christian folk. That said, as a pastor and blogger, I'm not so sure that I will participate in the evolution weekend. I'm not so sure that blogging on it would be all that beneficial and as one who believes along creationist lines (with a great number of nuances--I do not blindly subsrcibe to everything that party says!!!) I probably won't preach on the subject, besides, I have a great sermon series of Mark going on and I don't want to interrupt that.T. Michael W. Halcombhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01119080394574322124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-68579123659946353672008-01-29T11:41:00.000-08:002008-01-29T11:41:00.000-08:00Thanks for the reply. I don't see the fact tha...Thanks for the reply. I don't see the fact that the seas form on the following day as a problem for the parallelism I detect. The gathering of water into one place is part of making dry land appear, and wouldn't impact fish in any obvious way. As an aside, the gathering of water into a single place called 'seas' reflects the viewpoint of an author living on the Eastern Mediterranean, for whom the world is centered on a single area where there are multiple seas, with land stretching off in all directions as far as has been explored.<br><br>I don't see a conflict between using tools of historical-critical study and recognizing that the author of the text had a different view of the natural world or cosmos than I do. In fact, historical critical study has helped make us aware of how thinking has changed over time and thus increased our sense of historical change more generally.James F. McGrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02561146722461747647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-23696821386715031852008-01-29T10:14:00.000-08:002008-01-29T10:14:00.000-08:00James, concerning the rest of your statement, you ...James, concerning the rest of your statement, you make some good points. I do find it suspicious that you argue against reading our scientific worldview back on to it but at the same time, you read your it using modern historical/literary tools. Anyways...<br><br>I tend to take the view that whether or not this fits our modern scientific or even historical criteria, for the writer of Genesis, this portion was, in their mind, based on a historical event (even if described poetically).T. Michael W. Halcombhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01119080394574322124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-91234013077651771402008-01-29T08:52:00.000-08:002008-01-29T08:52:00.000-08:00It is absolutely a valid point that poetry can be ...It is absolutely a valid point that poetry can be based on historical events and recount things that actually occurred. One (possibly poetic) element of the creation story in Genesis 1, however, seems to preclude using it as a source of information about <i>chronology</i>. I am referring to the <a href="http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/bible/ot/genesis1.htm" rel="nofollow">parallelism</a> between days 1-3 and days 4-6. <br><br>Of course, this passage is also something other than 'history' in the sense that there was no human being around to witness the events described, and thus such a text is certainly not going to provide the sort of information historians look for in sources, irrespective of whether it is prose or poetry.<br><br>The big issue, though, is less about whether this chapter is <i>history</i> and more about whether it reflects a <i>pre-scientific worldview</i>. Given the mention of the dome, and of the splitting of waters to make the sky and seas (as found also in the Enuma Elish), the question seems relatively easy to answer, unless one is determined to force the Bible to speak the language of a modern scientific era rather than the language of the time in which it was written.James F. McGrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02561146722461747647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-67869238151607656382008-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:002008-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:00Owen, glad you like the site. Hopefully we'll...Owen, glad you like the site. Hopefully we'll can converse with each other from time-to-time.T. Michael W. Halcombhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01119080394574322124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839131113481621095.post-90116639899778605592008-01-28T14:27:00.000-08:002008-01-28T14:27:00.000-08:00Thanks for the add. Like your site too, and any pe...Thanks for the add. Like your site too, and any person that gets a couple jabs in at Chris Tilling (look alike meter) is good enough for an add to my blog roll. That you are a fellow Asburian just makes it even better!Owen Weddlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11869152841445293879noreply@blogger.com