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Genesis, the Beginning
What the first eleven chapters say, what they do not say, and where the real arguments are.
John Lennox
Oxford mathematician and philosopher of science. The days are open to several readings; the text leaves the age of the universe open; God's word marks the decisive steps.
Genesis 1:1-2:3, in every translation this tool compares.
Lennox's big idea in one line: the Bible could be read as saying the earth is young, but it does not have to be, the same way it once seemed to say the earth does not move. The Bible says the earth is fixed on pillars. Nobody now reads that as astronomy. He thinks the age of the earth is the same kind of question.
What Lennox holds, in his own terms, stated at full strength.
Genesis 1 to 11 describes real events. The Galileo controversy shows Christians can change their reading of a text without compromising its authority when the evidence is strong. Genesis 1:1 can precede day one, leaving the age of the universe open. Yom has several literal meanings in Genesis 1-2. He does not insist on one reading of the days, favouring a combination of sequence and framework, with sympathy for Gooding's creation days separated by long periods. God's speaking on each day is more important than each day's length. The double "And God said" on days three and six marks the origin of life and of humans. Romans 5:12 concerns human death. Humans are a special creation.
Lennox admits he does not settle day four and has not solved animal suffering. His "why not both" toward Walton keeps the material reading without fully answering Walton's case that the material reading must be demonstrated.
Not a concordist in the strong sense. He does not claim Genesis teaches modern science, only that it is consistent with it.
- Lennox, Seven Days that Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science, 10th anniversary ed. (Zondervan Reflective, 2021)
