There is a sense in which every Christian is a "creationist," for every Christian believes that he or she

lives in a universe that is a creation, and that the Source of creation is the God who is revealed in the
Bible as "maker of heaven and earth." This is true, whether the Christian is a young-earth creationist,
an old earth creationist, an intelligent design creationist, or an evolutionary creationist. While these
various creationists may strongly disagree among themselves about the "how" of creation, and
subscribe to different portraits or models of creation, they do agree on certain essential beliefs or
doctrines about creation, beliefs that they find anchored in the revelations of Holy Scripture. So, to
look at creation from the perspective of Christian faith we begin with the Bible.

Jezreel Valley from Nazareth HillsFirst, we need to understand what the word means. "Creation," as I
shall use the word in these essays, refers both to the process and product of creation: we apply it
both to the creation of the universe and to the universe as a creation. And I must make an important
clarification from the start. Too often, "creation" as process is popularly understood, and thus
misunderstood, to refer simply to the origination of the universe. Many people, it appears, think of
creation as something that happened in the past. To them "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth" (Gen. 1:1) means "God did this way back then." Christians have been arguing rather
vociferously in recent years over how far back "then" is, as many believers accept the scientific
evidence for a universe some 13.7 billion years old, and others claim that the Bible teaches that the
universe is only about 6,000 to 10,000 years old. In fact, the Bible doesn't teach this, but that is
another matter, and we'll review this controversy in a later essay.

But Christian theologians, both ancient and contemporary, declare that this understanding of the act
of creation as a past event is limited and inadequate, for the Bible sets out a more complex
understanding of "creation." I shall survey some perspectives from the history of Christian theology
on the meaning of creation in the second essay, but here I focus on creation as understood in Holy
Scripture.

There is a consensus among biblical scholars that the revelation about creation in the Bible refers
primarily to the relationship between the Creator and the creation,

and that the Bible declares that this relationship, as I shall explain below, is both intimate and
covenantal. Furthermore, in the Bible "creation" is revealed not only as the calling forth of the
universe into being but also its sustaining in existence and its eventual transformation: original
creation, continuous creation, new creation. While some Christians emphasize the verse in Genesis
that states, "God finished his creation," the Bible witnesses in other places that God continues to
create, and will "make all things new." Also, "creation" for those of Christian faith also includes God's
calling humanity into covenants, enduring bonds of promise and fidelity, especially the covenant God
established with the Israelites at Sinai and the new covenant Christ established with all who believe in
him. Out of these covenants the good news goes forth that the God who creates heaven and earth is
the same God who saves-from bondage in Egypt, from bondage to sin.

The popular emphasis that is placed on the first chapter of the Book of Genesis has encouraged this
misunderstanding about the meaning of creation. But as important as that narrative is, it is only one
of many passages in both the Old and New Testaments that reveal the relationship between the
Creator and the creation. An appendix at the conclusion of this essay lists them. Here I shall try to
summarize the major themes of creation that are to be found in these and other passages in the
Bible.

Major themes of the first creation narrative:

Hills of Samara with Mt. Gilboa (center) from Jordan ValleyLet me start where most people start, but
ask you to reread Genesis 1:1-2:4a, the first creation narrative, with fresh eyes. Set aside any
preconceptions as to how you would ordinarily interpret it, and ask the question as if for the first
time, "What is this narrative about?" I shall take the position, common among most Christian scholars,
including many evangelicals, that Genesis 1 is not "a straightforward, historical and scientific account
of how God created," the view espoused by young-earth creationists. Rather, this magnificent hymn-
like passage is a theological proclamation, a manifesto, a statement of faith about both the creation
and the Creator. Disagreements among Christians over the interpretation of Genesis 1 often fall into
an either/or argument: either it's history, people argue, or metaphor (or poetry); those who think it is
not an account of what actually happened call it "just a story." I should like to sidestep this rather
misleading dichotomy. First, what is historical about Genesis 1 is the context in which it was framed,
and it needs to be understood within that context. Second, the word "metaphor" does not do justice
to this powerful and majestic proclamation. I agree with the widely accepted view that Genesis 1 is a
narrative that combines the rhythms and repetitions of a worship text with a theological declaration.
This revelatory narrative challenges and rejects the theologies of Israel's polytheistic neighbors, both
the Canaanites among whom they lived as a free people and the Babylonians among whom they lived
as exiles. It is anti-mythological, in that it rejects the mythological truth claims of its neighbors'
creation stories; but it proclaims theological rather than chronological truths. As I shall argue below,
in agreement with the great majority of biblical scholars, including evangelicals, Genesis 1 is a
theological hymn of praise to the God of creation and a celebration of creation.

It might seem redundant to those of you who are Christians if I should summarize the content of
Genesis 1, but there is a pattern in this creation narrative that is often not recognized, and it is
worthwhile to point it out. The account begins with that part of the creation that is other than the
heavens, here spoken of as "the earth" but including "the Deep," in a state of "utter chaos" (Wenham
I, 15-16), translated in the KJV as "without form and void" (Heb. "tohuwabohu"). Many scholars have
noted a pattern to the "six days": in the first three "bohu," i.e., "formlessness," is given form: (1) light
emerges from darkness, (2) the waters are separated to form the lower and upper seas-the latter
supported by the "firmament," and (3) land emerges from the lower sea and is adorned with plant
life. In the latter three days "tohu," i.e., the state of being "empty," is filled: (4) the sun, moon, and
stars fill the firmament, (5) fish and other sea creatures fill the lower sea and birds the sky, and (6)
wild and domestic beasts, other land creatures, and human beings fill the earth (Hyers 67-71). The
seventh day of rest hallows and validates the commandment of a Sabbath rest (Exod. 20:11) by
weaving it into the very structure of creation.

Because of this pattern, many evangelical biblical scholars have been drawn to some version of a
"framework hypothesis": the six days are to be seen not as a chronological account of the steps of
creation but as a framework in which the various categories of "creature"--the word refers to both
inanimate and living things--are laid out in a logical order that in itself declares that creation in the
beginning involves the bringing of order out of chaos. The "utter chaos," the "formless and empty"
undifferentiated mass of the beginning of creation is a "problem" God moves immediately to solve,
and the solution is to differentiate matter through separation and to fill it with both inanimate and
animate creatures. Seen in the light of this hypothesis, Genesis 1 provides a theological declaration of
God's creativity rather than a scientific description of events (Hyer, ibid; Wenham I, 39-40).

Dead Sea, mountains of MoabIf we read and interpret Genesis 1 theologically rather than
scientifically, then what sort of revelation can we expect to find in it? Genesis 1 teaches what is the
common faith of all Christians (and also Jews and Muslims): that there is one God, not the many,
combative divinities Israel's Semitic neighbors believed in and made actors in their creation myths.
The creation is called forth by this one God in a placid and orderly manner and given structure; it is
not the expression of contending divine forces that Israel's neighbors believed accounted for the
changes and upheavals they experienced within nature. The "utter chaos" of undifferentiated matter
God marshals and makes fertile by simple but powerful and royal declarations of "Let there be!" God
does not have to battle other forces in order to bring cosmos (order) to creation. Even the sea
monsters are not divinities (as in the creation myths of Israel's neighbors) but products of God's
creative word (Gen. 1:21). Further, this creation is entirely natural; no portion of it is to be understood
as divine. While it is sacred because it is the product of the Holy One, it is not composed of divine
beings. Genesis 1 also implies that the entire creation is contingent, wholly dependent upon its
Creator for its very being and continuing existence and for all of the forms, capacities, capabilities,
and potentialities it possesses-all of its elements, living and non-living--and that it is given all these
solely by the will of its Author. Finally, this majestic narrative proclaims that in the eyes of its Maker,
each element of the creation is essentially good, and that looking upon the whole of creation God
declares that it is very good.