Genesis Interpretation Given by St. Augustine
Much harm is done by those not educated in the writings of the Early Church Fathers when it comes to explaining (providing exegesis) upon the two creation accounts in the book of Genesis. There are, in fact, good and plausible commentaries that explain why the two accounts are apparently contradictory, when in fact, they are not. Since the Holy Spirit inspired all of Scripture, it is inerrant (without error) if, as St. Augustine noted, the manuscript from the which the Scriptures were taken is accurate and the translation is correct. The only other explanation for apparent contradictions, is, as St. Augustine wrote, our own ignorance (i.e., we don’t know enough).
One example, frequently cited is the two creation accounts in Genesis. Here is one very plausible explanation given by the great Saint and Bishop of Hippo, Augustine, whose is considered a “Doctor of the Church” because of his wisdom in explaining the meaning of the Scripture, in the literal sense.
“The narrative [of Gen 1-3]… in these books is not cast in the figurative kind of language you find in the Song of Songs, but quite simply tells of things that happened, as in the books of the Kingdoms and others like them. He admitted, indeed, that many details of the paradise story (for example, the tree of life and the making of woman) were prophetic announcements of things future, but he nevertheless maintained that these things were realities: ‘All these things stood for something other than what they were, but all the same they were themselves bodily entities. And when the narrator mentioned them he was not employing figurative language, but giving an explicit account of things which had a forward reference that was figurative.’” (p. 158, The Works of St. Augustine: On Genesis).
…. As for the two creation accounts in Gen. 1-2, he solved the problem he said they were two moments or aspects of God’s creative action. He took the position that God created all things simultaneously, but that in this original creative act living beings had not yet been made independent substances but only existed potentially in the causales [causal] or seminales rationes [seminal types of] which God had placed in the world. From the outset then, the created world was equipped, in the form of predispositions, with everything that belongs to it. In accordance with the rationes seminales which at the very first moment had been placed in the world like seeds, the created world developed its potentialities at the proper times and in suitable places in accordance with the divine providence. Thus envisaged, the creation, which was accomplished once for all, was in one sense complete, in another incomplete. As a result it could be said, on the one hand that God rested on the seventh day in as much as he did not create any more kinds of creatures that were not contained actually or potentially in the original creative act. On the other hand, it was possible to speak of God’s further action inasmuch as he governed the created world and intervened when and as he wished, as, for example, in the formation of Adam and Eve (Ibid., p.163).
Much harm is done by those not educated in the writings of the Early Church Fathers when it comes to explaining (providing exegesis) upon the two creation accounts in the book of Genesis. There are, in fact, good and plausible commentaries that explain why the two accounts are apparently contradictory, when in fact, they are not. Since the Holy Spirit inspired all of Scripture, it is inerrant (without error) if, as St. Augustine noted, the manuscript from the which the Scriptures were taken is accurate and the translation is correct. The only other explanation for apparent contradictions, is, as St. Augustine wrote, our own ignorance (i.e., we don’t know enough).
One example, frequently cited is the two creation accounts in Genesis. Here is one very plausible explanation given by the great Saint and Bishop of Hippo, Augustine, whose is considered a “Doctor of the Church” because of his wisdom in explaining the meaning of the Scripture, in the literal sense.
“The narrative [of Gen 1-3]… in these books is not cast in the figurative kind of language you find in the Song of Songs, but quite simply tells of things that happened, as in the books of the Kingdoms and others like them. He admitted, indeed, that many details of the paradise story (for example, the tree of life and the making of woman) were prophetic announcements of things future, but he nevertheless maintained that these things were realities: ‘All these things stood for something other than what they were, but all the same they were themselves bodily entities. And when the narrator mentioned them he was not employing figurative language, but giving an explicit account of things which had a forward reference that was figurative.’” (p. 158, The Works of St. Augustine: On Genesis).
…. As for the two creation accounts in Gen. 1-2, he solved the problem he said they were two moments or aspects of God’s creative action. He took the position that God created all things simultaneously, but that in this original creative act living beings had not yet been made independent substances but only existed potentially in the causales [causal] or seminales rationes [seminal types of] which God had placed in the world. From the outset then, the created world was equipped, in the form of predispositions, with everything that belongs to it. In accordance with the rationes seminales which at the very first moment had been placed in the world like seeds, the created world developed its potentialities at the proper times and in suitable places in accordance with the divine providence. Thus envisaged, the creation, which was accomplished once for all, was in one sense complete, in another incomplete. As a result it could be said, on the one hand that God rested on the seventh day in as much as he did not create any more kinds of creatures that were not contained actually or potentially in the original creative act. On the other hand, it was possible to speak of God’s further action inasmuch as he governed the created world and intervened when and as he wished, as, for example, in the formation of Adam and Eve (Ibid., p.163).
