In modern Western culture, we have two very different narratives swirling around the first two pages of the Bible. In the first narrative, the creation story in Genesis 1-2 represents a literal seven days, and this all happened only a few thousand years ago. In the second narrative, earth and its inhabitants took billions of years to evolve into their present form—and therefore, Bible-believing Christians are fools. What if both these narratives miss the main point of what Genesis 1-2 is all about? In this lecture, Tim explores the Bible’s creation story alongside other ancient creation stories, revealing a very different narrative about the origin of life, our purpose and identity as humans, and what all of this tells us about the God of the Bible.

Tim taught this lecture in January 2016 at Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• Nothing: A Very Short Introduction by Frank Close
• The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H. Walton
• The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder by William P. Brown
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Nob Hill (Instrumental)” by Drexler

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today’s episode. JB Witty writes our show notes. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Many people view science and religious faith as bitter enemies with conflicting views of the universe, especially when you consider the scientific explanation for the universe’s origin versus the biblical account. But is this tension real, or is it based on a deep misunderstanding of what the Bible is and how it communicates? Genesis 1-2—written thousands of years ago—says many surprising things about the origins of the universe. But these chapters also leave most of our modern scientific questions unaddressed. So what do we make of this? In this 2011 lecture from a science and faith conference at Blackhawk Church in Madison, Wisconsin, Tim asks what it means to read the first two pages of the Bible as ancient Hebrew texts and considers how they might interact with modern scientific claims.

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John Walton
• In the Beginning... We Misunderstood: Interpreting Genesis 1 in Its Original Context by Johnnie V. Miller and John M. Soden
• Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science by Scott McKnight and Dennis Venema
• Science, Creation and the Bible: Reconciling Rival Theories of Origins by Richard F. Carlson and Tremper Longman III
• Enuma Elis (ancient Babylonian creation narrative)
• Atrahasis Epic (ancient Babylonian cosmology text)
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Amazing Jonah E5 – We’ve come to the final episode of a five-part series on the book of Jonah. And this last part of the book is one of the most puzzling. After Jonah preaches his strange, five-word sermon, the people of Nineveh surprisingly repent. And when God forgives them, Jonah fumes with anger and berates God for being too gracious. In this episode, Tim closes out the story of Jonah, connecting it to Jesus’ challenging words to love and forgive our enemies. This message was given on September 1, 2013, at Door of Hope Church in Portland, Oregon.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop by William L. Ury
• The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium by Walter Wink
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Nob Hill Instrumental” by Drexler

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Aaron Olsen edited and remastered today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.