HISTORICAL CREATIONISM: A summary of the interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 by John Sailhamer as presented in “Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account” (1997).
What follows is a fairly lengthy introduction and overview of John Sailhamer’s book “Genesis Unbound” (1997). The first edition had a small printing and was out of circulation for nearly 10 years before being republished in 2011. That second printing came after John Walton’s influential book, “The Lost World of Genesis One” (2009) which brought about a renewed interest Sailhamer’s works including his The Pentateuch as Narrative (1996) and The Meaning of the Pentateuch (2009). Sailhamer’s interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis in the context of the Pentateuch have influenced and/or been expanded upon by many biblical scholars and pastors.
In a nutshell here is what I am going to present in multiple posts:
I. A brief summary of some of the questions that commonly come up when dealing with the text of Genesis 1 which Sailhamer addresses
II. An overview of Sailhamer’s thesis which he calls the Historical Creation View
III. Overview of specific topics
- The meaning of the earth being made formless and void
- Genesis 1 within the context of the Pentateuch
- What about the links between Genesis 1 and 2? Where was the Garden of Eden and how is it related to Genesis 1?
- The meaning of “In the beginning”
- Did God create in six literal solar days?
Naturalis Historia 