The Creation Text is a set of 49 studies that sequentially explores the text and structure of Genesis 1 to 5. The studies vary in style: some are close textual exposition; some offer intertextual analysis; some consider broader compositional issues. In this sense the genre of the studies also vary from biblical studies to theology to homilies. The mastery of these varying approaches to the text is a testament to the author’s wide knowledge, analytical rigor and thoughtful insight.
This is not a book about science. The author avoids all externalities, including any implications these chapters might have for the age of the earth, the origin of species or the nature of humanity. This is welcome relief from much that has been written on Genesis and an opportunity to explore the text on its own terms. This does not mean that the author avoids complicated questions such as the relationship of Gen 1:1 to the rest of the chapter, the relationship of Gen 1 to Gen 2, or the literality of some or all of what was written. But the author approaches these, not as some difficulty to be reconciled with the results of secular disciplines, but as features of the text to be understood through the text itself.
The joy of this book is the fresh insights that the author brings to chapters of the bible that are all too familiar. It should remind readers that the bible is not a problem to be explained away but a message to received and enjoyed on its own terms.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)