Are the Genesis 1 ‘days’ literal 24-hour days?
The Bible begins with the famous “Seven Day Creation” account in Genesis 1:1-2:4 (an unfortunate chapter break if there ever was one–it actually comes from the chapter divisions in medieval editions of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible rather than the text of the Bible itself). It describes God creating, forming, shaping and appointing various elements of creation and then ending it with a Sabbath rest.
For many readers of Scripture–as well as skeptics and critics–the Bible is teaching that God created the universe and all that is in it in a period of seven literal twenty-four hour days. For believers, this means that scientific data which goes against this idea is either misinterpreted or invalid. For skeptics, this means that the Bible is a book of myths and fairytales and needs to be relegated to the fiction shelf once and for all.
But what both of these approaches assume is that the Biblical “days” of Genesis 1 are intended to be interpreted in a literalistic manner. This is simply not the case. In fact, there are numerous ways of looking at the Genesis creation “days” which have nothing to do with reading “modern secular science” into the text (as Literalists claim those who believe the “days” are really “ages” are guilty of doing)…
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Categories: Biblical Scholarship, Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Science & Scripture, Theological issues