The Creator is the Redeemer My posts typically focus on
establishing the historical context for biblical creation texts.
Doing this helps us see that biblical authors were asking
ancient questions, not modern ones. Missing that historical
dimension is one source of the present confusion and even
animosity surrounding the conversation between the Bible and
science. But there is more to understanding the biblical idea of
creation. It is also important to see how a historically rooted
notion of creation in Genesis plays out elsewhere in the Old
Testament and then finally, in the New. Last week we dropped in
the middle of that discussion by looking at the two episodes in
the Gospels where Jesus shows mastery over the water.
Understanding the Old Testament backdrop of Yahweh, who creates
by taming the watery chaos, brings depth to the Gospel stories.
This is one example of where insights gained from historical
study can provide deeper theological understanding. This week I
want to touch on a larger and more promin