Craig thanks for an insightful read. I am a Christian minister and have a very particular fondness for Genesis 1. I agree that when we try to match up the text with science we generally both make a mess of both the text and of science too. Christians who do this, even in good faith, are taking a timeless religious text that has been foundational in so many ways beyond a simple "how it happened" description of creation, and unthinkingly make it subservient and answerable to modern scientific notions, which were as foreign to the original Biblical audience as modern Boeing jet engines would be to Egyptian chariot engineers. The sad reality is, when we try to simply understand this theological/philosophical text as either straight science or an historical account, we miss the true beauty and stunning mastery of this pretty amazing "stone age" text. We miss how the order of creation matches nicely as a strong polemic against the gods of the ancient Middle Eastern world, and how close it corresponds to the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20. We miss how days 1 to 3 correspond perfectly with days 4-6; and at the same time answer the formlessness and void of 1:2, by giving form and filling up the new forms. We miss how the text sets up the institution of the Sabbath. We miss how it puts humanity as the central crown of creation, and their unique role over everything else. We miss all the repetition, word play, and breakdown of not just the days, but so much of the text into threes, sevens, and tens. It is a breathtakine and unrepreduciple test, and whether one likes it, agrees with it or not; no text has shaped history and humanity more, and no other text will probably ever come close. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Is the single most recognized and reflected upon sentence in all litterature, and I would argue it is also the starting point of all philosophy--everyone to some degree must either accept or reject this assertion! I chose to accept it. It seems without it, even science itself becomes nonsensable. "Ex nihilo nihil fit!"
