Evangelicals spend a lot of time fighting about Genesis and the proper interpretation thereof. Catholics spend a lot less time on it for reasons which are not fully clear to me. My area of scholarship is religion, law, and politics, so I am far from expert in this controversy as either a theologian or a scientist.
What I am curious about and would like to see discussion of here at this blog is why this issue commands so much attention relative to other matters. Let me explain what I mean. I became a Christian because I became convinced of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. To me, his resurrection is the point upon which a person must become convinced. Nothing else is comparable.
The resurrection of Jesus is where the whole thing rests, isn’t it? If he rose, then we need to follow him. If he did not, then we are back to just choosing our faith on the basis of preference or a mystical experience.
How does the Genesis battle get in front of that? Am I missing something? I am completely open to the possibility that I am.
(In bringing this up I am not jumping on the Darwin train. I think reasonable people of all faiths or none should probably have strong reservations about buying that package, especially in its widest-reaching forms.)
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
