Bishop Barron on Misreading Genesis

you know I'm continually amazed how often in my work of evangelization the problem of Genesis comes up what I mean is people they're just balking over what seems to be the bad science on display in the book of Genesis they say look how can you possibly make sense of this text that says God made the world in six days all the species came into being you know roughly at the same time that light existed before the Sun and Moon I mean come on how do you square this very naive mythological cosmology with the subtle work of Newton and Einstein and Stephen Hawking jezus is just bad science who can take it seriously today well here's a way to get at it when looking at the Bible and Vatican 2 is real clear on this you've got to be sensitive to genre what kind of text are we dealing with seeing people make mistakes about that all the time it would be it would be a mistake to look at Moby Dick and expect it to be a 19th century history B mistake to look at TS Eliot's the wasteland and expect it to be a spy novel you have to know what kind of text you're dealing with so what is Genesis if I can borrow page from father George coin the great two Jesuit priest and astrophysicist he said what modern science commences in the late sixteenth early 17th century with Galileo and Descartes and Pascal and company the last biblical book is written around the Year 100 ad there's just no way that the Bible is modern science modern science didn't exist yet so whatever is going on in the Bible it's not what we mean by modern science what Newton and Stephen Hawking and Einstein and company were doing is just simply not what the biblical authors are doing Newton and company are following the ideas and principles of modern science namely to observe to form hypotheses to test them with experimentation draw conclusions etc okay so don't look at Genesis as bad science that's like looking at the wasteland as a bad spy novel it's not a spy novel at all Genesis is not science at all so what is it I would call it theology mysticism spirituality it's a theological reflection on the origin of all things so what are some of the insights we can gain once we get this genre of issue clear well there are many many Genesis is is so rich and so multivalent I'll just pick out a couple here's the first one God makes the whole world now translate yet philosophically if you want into the non-contingent ground of contingency gives rise to all things even here and now so creation is happening now Genesis is talking theologically about something that's happening even now God is giving rise to the world how how through a non-violent act of speech God says let there be light and there's light God says let the earth come forth and it comes forth in almost all the mythologies of the ancient world all the ancient cosmologies the world comes forth in a great act of violence God or the gods of battle with some opponent they wrestle a rival into submission and in that act order ensues by the way notice how that myth is very prevalent even to this day we still tend to believe it order comes through violence through the conquest of arrival there's none of that though in Genesis God brings forth the world not through violence not through conquest but through a sheerly generous nonviolent act of speech link it now if you want to the great ethical teachings of Jesus about the love of enemies about non-violence what he's recommending is not just a more correct ethical path he's recommending to fall into line with Addie best grain of the universe that God makes the world through non-violent love there's a first theological theme in Genesis here's a second one people that time the time the Bible was written worshiped all kinds of gods right some worshiped the stars some worshiped the moon some worship the Sun some worshipped animals right all these different features of creation were worshipped as gods now what does the author Genesis say God created the heavens and the earth God created the Stars God created the planets and the moon and the Sun God created all the animals you see what he's doing is he is dethroning all these false claimants to divinity he's saying none of these is in fact God but they all come from God and they bear witness to God but he's enunciate if you want a great anti idolatry principle nothing in this world is God the true God is the creator of all things relevant message today you bet I mean we worship all kinds of things you know from pleasure to money to power etc no no God makes all those things they're all under the aegis of God but they're not to be worshipped it's a second a theological point here's a third one and again I could pick many many it's such a rich text Adam don't read it literally we're not talking about a literal figure we're talking in theological poetry Adam the first human being names all the animals he catalogues them cut a log on in the Greek means according to the word God has imbued all things with intelligibility Adam noticing the intelligibility names them gives them their proper title who is he the church fathers read him as the first scientist he's the first philosopher he's the human being in his proper role as the steward of creation and the one who names and orders all things according to God's creative intention this is the great humanism that's implicit in Genesis eat of all the trees right we hear the church father said that's the great permission of Genesis Adam and Eve who are kind of at play in the feel of the Lord that stands for science for art for politics for conversation for friendship all these forms of human flourishing under the lordship of God Genesis is a great humanistic text now those are three insights I could garner many many more read great commentators on Genesis read the great spiritual and theological interpreters of it get over the problem of Genesis as bad science it's not bad science is not science at all rather it is exquisite theology

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 390,217

Keywords: Fr. Robert Barron, Word On Fire, Catholicism, Christianity, Catholic, Jesus, God, church, bible, Genesis, creationism, creationists, evolution, religion and science, faith religion christianity

Id: UVsbVAVSssc

Length: 7min 41sec (461 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 28 2011