Funded by the Henry Luce III Foundation, this study explores the significance of the ancient creation traditions of the Hebrew Bible in light of the discoveries and perspectives of science. The aim, however, is not to seek an artificial harmony that forces Scripture to fit science or science to fit Scripture. Rather, the goal is to facilitate a constructive dialogue between two independent disciplines that are rooted in wonder — biblical theology and science — in order to gain new wisdom about how to live responsibly in the world, to care for creation. The overarching question is: How do we in ... More

Funded by the Henry Luce III Foundation, this study explores the significance of the ancient creation traditions of the Hebrew Bible in light of the discoveries and perspectives of science. The aim, however, is not to seek an artificial harmony that forces Scripture to fit science or science to fit Scripture. Rather, the goal is to facilitate a constructive dialogue between two independent disciplines that are rooted in wonder — biblical theology and science — in order to gain new wisdom about how to live responsibly in the world, to care for creation. The overarching question is: How do we interpret and appropriate the ancient creation traditions in the light of what we now know from science? Put another way, this study is an exercise in hermeneutics, an interpretive venture that seeks to discern how science transforms our understanding of the biblical text in ways clearly unimagined by the biblical authors themselves. In certain cases, science deepens and underscores the interpretive scope of the ancient text. In other cases, science limits and refocuses the text’s relevance. The study concludes with an appeal to forge a working relationship between science and biblical faith for developing a theologically and empirically informed ecological wisdom.