Richard S. Briggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383355
- eISBN:
- 9780199870561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383355.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, History of Christianity
This chapter looks at the issues occupying the interpretation of Genesis at the time of Darwin and notes that the impact of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern creation accounts came at more or ...
More
This chapter looks at the issues occupying the interpretation of Genesis at the time of Darwin and notes that the impact of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern creation accounts came at more or less the same time as the impact of Darwin's writing. As a result, the interpretation of Genesis could operate within two completely different hermeneutical frameworks, neither of which was directly linked to the plain-sense concerns of the Genesis text. A variety of examples of interpreting Genesis in the light of ancient Near Eastern texts is explored, seeking to demonstrate that there is a variety of ways in which hermeneutical benefit may be derived from reading a text in the light of other concerns, and a similar case is then made with respect to the hermeneutics of reading Genesis after Darwin.Less
This chapter looks at the issues occupying the interpretation of Genesis at the time of Darwin and notes that the impact of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern creation accounts came at more or less the same time as the impact of Darwin's writing. As a result, the interpretation of Genesis could operate within two completely different hermeneutical frameworks, neither of which was directly linked to the plain-sense concerns of the Genesis text. A variety of examples of interpreting Genesis in the light of ancient Near Eastern texts is explored, seeking to demonstrate that there is a variety of ways in which hermeneutical benefit may be derived from reading a text in the light of other concerns, and a similar case is then made with respect to the hermeneutics of reading Genesis after Darwin.