William P Brown, in his book The Seven Pillars of Creation, notes that there are at least seven creation narratives in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). If you asked most people how many creation narratives existed in the bible they would say one. Some who have read into Genesis 2 would tell you that there are maybe two.
Since he was young and he experienced a display at a museum that showed him the vastness and smallness of the known world, William P Brown had been captivated by creation. This captivation is something that people have sensed throughout history as they have wondered at all they could see and that which they couldn’t. People have always asked questions about where we come from and how we have hippos and rhinos and duck billed platypuses. They wonder at how this planet has life and what else lies out there in the universe and more recently in the space between the protons and electrons that make up the atoms that make up everything else.
In his journey that has taken his faith, science and those deep question that have been asked for centuries he discovered that the bible has so much more to say about creation than in Genesis 1. In fact there are earlier stories contained in its pages that talk of the creation of the world. He also discovered that the writers aren’t always interested in the how but the why and more about some of the more intangible things that were created than the physical things we often focus on. He also learnt that often this stories were the other side of a conversation, they were counter points to other ancient stories that looked to speak of what YHWH was doing in there midst and how this made YHWH different.
The seven stories he identifies in the Old Testament are
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Genesis 2:4b-3:24
Job 38-41
Psalm 104
Proverbs 8:22-31
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; 12:1-7
Isaiah 40-55 (excerpts throughout)
Skipping over the two most well known stories we can see that the others take very different views of creation. Job contains a whirlwind tour-de-force looking at the minutia of how created life works as well as asking the unknowing questions of Job. It combines both the order and structure of creation alongside the unknown depths and chaos that still exist.
Psalm 104 is a psalm of praise taking in theological, cosmological, ecological and biological breadth. It offers us an image of a God who cares and provides for creation. Proverbs introduces wisdom, the first created of God’s work. Everything after was created with wisdom present. Ecclesiastes speaks of creation in a way that is found now where else. It toys with the ideas of time and toil. It is exasperated at creations continual pace and yet blessed by the simplicity it offers in. The provision of food, drink and fellowship. Finally, Isaiah brings a vision of creation as an ongoing process and one that YHWH is not finished with yet. God is still at work and by that very nature creation is still taking place and will continue to do so. If you thought the story was over it isn’t.
All this and we haven’t even got to John playing with Genesis 1 as he retells the creation story with Jesus at the centre because now he knows of Jesus it changes how he understands that first story. The other John in Revelation does the same giving us a cosmic view point of the breath of all history from creation to the culmination of it all.
You see creation narratives aren’t meant to be the finished article. They are part of a bigger story. If you only read Genesis 1, then you miss everything that the other narratives have to offer. If you stop with Isaiah then you miss what God has been revealing to his creation in the 1000’s of year since. In all this, our job isn’t to tell people exactly how everything came about but instead to invite them to dive into the ongoing conversation about how God underpins all that we know. That their is depth and richness beyond our imaginations that we are still to discover and there is so much that we do not know about how all this came to be.
Questions
- What’s the strangest or most mind-blowing fact about the universe you’ve ever heard?
- When you look at the world—whether it’s a sunset, a storm, or a pint of beer—what makes you wonder about creation?
- What does it mean for creation to be more about “why” rather than “how”?
- How does the idea of multiple creation stories shape our understanding of the Bible’s role in an ongoing conversation rather than a fixed answer?
- The Bible’s creation stories are often responses to other ancient stories. What do you think today’s culture says about creation, and how might faith respond?
- John rewrites the creation story with Jesus at the centre. How does Jesus change how we see creation?
- What’s the difference between seeing a creation narrative as a “one-time event” and seeing it as an ongoing conversation?
Photo by Monstera Production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-potter-with-clay-in-hands-5302906/
Has been a part of BeachcomberFX since his arrival in the North East in 2014. He is well travelled (at least in the UK) having lived in Manchester, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Southport, Doncaster, Berwick and Edinburgh. Supporter of Newcastle United, will watch any sport.
