Now revised and updated--John Lennox's acclaimed method of reading and
interpreting the first chapters of Genesis without discounting either
science or Scripture.
What did the writer of Genesis mean by "the first day?" Are the seven
days in Genesis 1 a literal week or a series of time periods? If I
believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old as cosmologists believe,
am I denying the authority of Scripture?
With examples from history, a brief but thorough exploration of the
major interpretations, and a look into the particular significance of
the creation of human beings, Lennox suggests that Christians can heed
modern scientific knowledge while staying faithful to the biblical
narrative. He moves beyond a simple response to the controversy,
insisting that Genesis teaches us far more about the God of Jesus Christ
and about God's intention for creation than it does about the age of the
earth.
With this book, Lennox offers a careful and accessible introduction to a
scientifically-savvy, theologically-astute, and Scripturally faithful
interpretation of Genesis.
Since its publication in 2011, this book has enabled many readers to see
that the major controversy with which it engages can be resolved without
compromising commitment to the authority of Scripture. In this newly
revised and expanded edition, John clarifies his arguments, responds to
comments and critiques of the past decade since its first publication.
In particular, he describes some of the history up to modern times of
Jewish scholarly interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative as
well as spelling out in more detail the breadth of views in the Great
Tradition of interpretation due to the early Church Fathers. He shows
that, contrary to what many people think, much of the difficulty with
understanding the biblical texts does not arise from modern science but
from attempting to elucidate the texts in their own right.
