Example research essay topic: Religious Studies Christianity And Modern Science - 1,842 words

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Religious Studies - Christianity and Modern Science 1. Discuss the two accounts of creation in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2. What do they mean? What does Conrad Here say about them in his book The Meaning of CREATION? Despite the oxymoronic character of "scientific creationism, " the movement has proved to be a stubborn modern phenomenon in religious, scientific, and educational circles. Though mainline churches, the scientific community, and the religious academy have considered the issues of creation and evolution to have been settled, on the whole, a long time ago, advocates of the so-called "creation science" have persisted in a very aggressive manner "defending the Bible" -- that is, their own interpretation of it, which they equate with the Bible -- in private, parochial, and public schools, before legislatures and the courts, and in fundamentalist churches, seminaries, "Bible Science" organizations, and book publishing.

Currently there are over four hundred books in print, from academic works to children's literature, espousing a creation-science / anti evolutionist point of view. (Stanley, 1980). Corresponding mainstream publications are less than one-twentieth of this output -- and largely by evangelicals still trying to work out a mix of biblical creation and scientific evolution with "broad correspondences. " (Anderson, 1977). Bailey's book is a much needed entry into the fray. While its potential audience will be limited because of its academic sophistication and considerable textual detail, at the same time this is its strength. Bailey brings an extensive and precise knowledge of biblical texts, Hebrew, and the ancient Near East to bear upon the controversy.

Unlike most scientific creationists who spend the bulk of their time arguing scientific data and theory, Bailey's book deals primarily with the question of what the biblical authors meant by their creation stories. He pays attention to such matters as the type of literature, linguistic usage, historical context, and religious objectives of their stories. Scientific creationists assume that the creation literature parallels modern scientific discourse, that the language is largely literal rather than metaphorical, that the context is an attack on the idolatrous of materialism, naturalism, humanism (and maybe communism), and that the objective is to deliver a historical accounting of origins. The creationists, for example, take most biblical numbers numerically rather than numero logically.

Yet, as Bailey abundantly documents in biblical and extra biblical usage, numbers are often being used in accord with their symbolic value, not their literal value (as in modern scientific discourse), or their numerical accuracy is sacrificed to their numerological correctness. The truth being conveyed and the values being given priority are not secular but religious, not historical but theological. Thus, to demonstrate a conflict with modern scientific accounts of origins, one would first have to demonstrate that the biblical use of numbers (as in the seven days of Gen. 1) was truly numerical, and that the language otherwise was aimed at making what we today might recognize as astronomical, geological, and biological statements. Bailey's book is essential reading for anyone wanting to argue these issues in a rational and informed manner. Even scientific creationists will eventually have to come to terms with this book and its wealth of supporting evidence, if they are genuinely interested in examining the Bible in its own terms and with respect for the biblical authors, own intentions and context of meaning. (Clifford, 1994). The narrative is structured by the recurrent formula, "There was sunset, there was daybreak, one day, "second day, "third day, " etc. , into seven sections, seven days.

Time is the predominant feature of the created world. It is the first thing created, when the rest of what exists is inchoate, in chaos. Light is made to alternate with dark, thereby marking the length of a day. The significance of time is made explicit in the narrative with the creation of the luminaries: the "larger lamp"-the sun; the "smaller lamp"-the moon; and "the stars." They will function not only "to separate between the day and the night" -- which means, to define the unit of the day -- but also "to be signs of sacred occasions (mo " am), days, and years." Days need to be counted for the sake of sacred time. The climax of the creation narrative is not, as some have said, the creation of humanity, but rather the establishment, setting apart, and blessing of the day that has been anticipated by the division of the story into days, the day that retrospectively gives significance to the counting of days, the day that will always be different, God's day, the seventh day, the Sabbath. Even Nahum San, who expatiates on the creation of the human as the "pinnacle of creation, " appreciates the importance of the Sabbath in the story's rhetorical scheme: "The ascending order of Creation, and the 'six-plus-one' literary pattern that determines the presentation of the narrative, dictates that the seventh day be the momentous climax. (Stanley, 1980).

Generally, Genesis is about creation of the world we live in. Just as his teaching emulates God's representation of the past in the present, so do his outstretched arms emulate the dynamic of creation in Genesis: God's division of light and darkness, sea and land, sun and moon occurs through the Hebrew verb bdl, meaning "to divide or separate. " Probably, also as an act of separation creating duality, God created two people: Adam and Eve. In truth, "God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. " (Genesis 1: 28) - is meant to convey nothing other than what follows in the next chapter. Humans were to toil together with the Creator in working the earth.

The fact that God has crowned humankind with honour and sovereignty does not imply that humans are to subdue the earth; rather, it forms the basis for their unending wonder: "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Ps. 8: 9). The religion of the Torah exercises Israel in the behaviors of the creator God in an almost daily regimen by requiring it to separate from all the animals a discrete set that may be eaten. As Mary Douglas has shown, the dietary laws of Leviticus 11 group animals in the same three categories that Genesis 1 does, corresponding to the three domains of animal life: air, sea, and land. Edible animals are those whose locomotion conforms to the domain in which they live: flying for air creatures, swimming with fins for marine life, and walking on four properly hoover feet for land animals. (Mendenhall, 1970). Without going into details here, the entire system of ritual purity is founded on the distinction between that which conforms to creation and its goals for life and that which is antithetical to creation and its goals for life. As Joseph Blenkinsopp has put it, the "work of creation" in Genesis 1 is "a cosmic counterpart to the distinction between 'clean' and 'unclean' in the ritual law. " The expectation that human beings can practice imitation del and conduct themselves on the model of God is expressed in Genesis 1 by the notion that the humans, male and female alike, are created "in the image of God" (vv. 26 - 27). (24) On the basis of a comparison with Ezek. 1: 26, the reference of "image of God" is to a physical resemblance.

Of all the creatures God made, only the human is similar to God, a concept that is conveyed concretely through the image of physical likeness. (Clifford, 1994). The fourth commandment presents God's act of creation as the paradigm for the sequence of workdays, mentioned above, followed by the sabbath. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. The rhythm of work and repose mirrors the rhythm underlying the act of the Creator. The commandment to keep the sabbath is more than just a pragmatic proposition. It establishes that human work is bound up with creation and with its inner order.

Without God's creation, which preceded humankind, there is no basis for engaging in work. Without God's loving kindness, which accompanies humans on their journey, their work leads to naught. Without God's dedication to humankind, they would be stranded in the world. The recurrence of the sabbath calls humans to remember from the outset that their work is totally embedded in God's creation. On the seventh day nature remains protected from every human incursion. While humans rest, they may recall that "the earth and all that is upon it" belong to God and that God stands in direct relationship with all creatures. (Fishbane, 1979).

God's creation is and remains primordial to humankind. To be sure, the framework it provides for human life is not fixed once and for all. The last few centuries have shown that humans can extend their mastery over nature through directed research and work. Yet no matter how far humans may push forward along this pathway, it will not change their fundamental dependence on God's creation. (Anderson, 1977). The Christian proclamation must call to mind that human beings, though capable of transforming what is given into things of new value, never become creators. Although able to stand vis-a-vis nature, human beings can never escape being a part of nature.

Humans remain creatures within the creation, and their activity within the creation runs up against limits. Since Locke, the almost self-evident assumption that the process of transformation and adding value can proceed without end has proved to be illusory. The resources available to humans are not boundless. In their work, as well as elsewhere, human beings must learn to respect this fact. (Blake, 1966). As we have seen, the relationship between humankind and the earth was disturbed by the fall.

Humans can no longer count on their work to yield the fruit they expect. The old expectation that work will lead to ever greater freedom and happiness has not held up. Experience has increasingly shown that human work can also bear bitter fruit. (Fishbane, 1979). Every part of the world appears before us in perfect balance and symmetry, majestic and wondrous. (30) The perfection of the created world has been understood to be indicated explicitly in the repeated assessments by God that his work has been "good, " and especially in his final estimation, on the sixth day, that "everything he had made" was "very good" (Gen. 1: 31). 2.

What was the impact of Newtonian Science upon the view of creation and biblical interpretation? Sir Isaac Newton was a man of many talents. After his great scientific discoveries he had a remarkable second career as Warden of the Mint, where he implemented a difficult reform of the coinage that may have saved the British nation from financial disaster. He personally investigated cases of counterfeiting and sent scores of malefactors to the gallows. Michael White's biography does not stint Newton the great achiever, but its primary emphasis, as the subtitle indicates, is on the "sorcerer" -- specifically Newton the alchemist and deciphered of hidden prophecies in the Bi

Research essay sample on Religious Studies Christianity And Modern Science