Here’s a couple of hundred words to describe what the aim of the ‘Origins’ course is.
After some thought I have decided to go with the topic of Genesis 1-3. Here’s a little more detail of what to expect. I expect the curriculum to be driven by the follow strands.
As you probably know I end up talking about Genesis virtually every time I preach. Why is this? I guess it is because it is the Hebrew Origin story and so clearly, obviously underpins what our Christian faith is all about.
Unsurprisingly to me, when I announced the possibility of doing something more in depth on Genesis I was asked about discussing Evolution vs Creation. We might, perhaps, make a passing reference to the subject on our way towards something else. It is not my intention to get into that particular rabbit hole. As somebody once said to me ‘the text is so much deeper than that’. So here’s a brief look at what I am thinking about covering.
Close Reading of the Passage
This is the starting, and ending point, of course. We will look deeply into some of the text, and some of the words to help us understand how the Hebrews saw the cosmos before the acts of Gen1. We might unpack the ‘formless and void’ of vs 2 , and the famously beautiful phrase ‘image and likeness’ of vs 26 which is so debated. We might look into the order of the 6 days narrative and what our God given role in Eden was. Why a garden? What is outside the garden? Why the description of the rivers, and precious stones?
Chapter 3
We will spend some time in this chapter taking an overview of just what is Hebrew author saying to us about those famous events. What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What is ‘a serpent’? What was the attack that faced our ancestors? Just what was going on in the fall?
Setting Genesis into it’s cultural Context
The Hebrews who wrote Genesis were obviously part of a wider society, just as we are today. Naturally again this means they were influenced by these cultures. Again, we can gain useful insights into what the writers were thinking when they wrote. Archaeology and alternative creation stories such as the Sumerian shed light on how the Hebrews and their contemporaries thought about God, and the human.
Creation and Worship
Hopefully we will get to look at this at least in part – since it is so intrically linked into Genesis 1 and 2. The temple is described as ‘Creation in Stone’ – really? And if so, so what? We might consider the belly of the earth, and even some of the mathematics behind the construction (don’t worry, it is totally awesome). What is that large bowl of water for? And those mysterious pillars? And why is their no cult statue in the Holy of Holies? Does this have any bearing on how we do church?
Here and Now
Overall, I aim to show that this ancient story, has direct consequences of our understanding of humanity and our relationship to the divine. This is not a study for dry and dusty university lecture theatres. It is relevant, life changing and – put plainly, utterly beautiful.