Early Christian Readings of Genesis One - (Biologos Books on Science and Christianity) by Craig D Allert (Paperback)

About the Book

Do the writings of the church fathers support a literalist interpretation of Genesis 1? Young earth creationists have maintained that they do. But are we correctly representing the Fathers and their concerns? This study from Craig Allert resets our understanding of early Christian interpretation and considers whether contemporary evangelicals may be more bound to modernity in our reading of Genesis 1 than we realize.

Book Synopsis

Do the writings of the church fathers support a literalist interpretation of Genesis 1? Young earth creationists have maintained that they do. And it is sensible to look to the Fathers as a check against our modern biases.

But before enlisting the Fathers as ammunition in our contemporary Christian debates over creation and evolution, some cautions are in order. Are we correctly representing the Fathers and their concerns? Was Basil, for instance, advocating a literal interpretation in the modern sense? How can we avoid flattening the Fathers' thinking into an indexed source book in our quest for establishing their significance for contemporary Christianity?

Craig Allert notes the abuses of patristic texts and introduces the Fathers within their ancient context, since the patristic writings require careful interpretation in their own setting. What can we learn from a Basil or Theophilus, an Ephrem or Augustine, as they meditate and expound on themes in Genesis 1? How were they speaking to their own culture and the questions of their day? Might they actually have something to teach us about listening carefully to Scripture as we wrestle with the great axial questions of our own day?

Allert's study prods us to consider whether contemporary evangelicals, laudably seeking to be faithful to Scripture, may in fact be more bound to modernity in our reading of Genesis 1 than we realize. Here is a book that resets our understanding of early Christian interpretation and the contemporary conversation about Genesis 1.

BioLogos Books on Science and Christianity invite us to see the harmony between the sciences and biblical faith on issues including cosmology, biology, paleontology, evolution, human origins, the environment, and more.

Review Quotes

"Early Christian Readings of Genesis One is a welcome and needed call for more careful, rigorous use of the church fathers' views on creation. . . . Early Christian Readings of Genesis One helpfully draws attention to the complexity of patristic exegesis of Genesis, and calls us out into deeper waters than most of us have yet waded."

--Gavin Ortlund, Themelios, April 2019

About the Author

Craig D. Allert (PhD, University of Nottingham) is professor of religious studies at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. He is the author of A High View of Scripture: Biblical Authority and the Formation of the New Testament Canon and Revelation, Truth, Canon, and Interpretation.