Genesis 1:24–31; 2:7–24, Luke 8.22-25
The first two stories in the Book of Genesis have generated more controversy than any other part of the Bible.
For Biblical Literalists they’re a plain account of the dawn of time and the ancient fossils and rock formations that scientists find in the geological record have just been put there by God to mislead us - a sort of trail of false evidence leading the unwary away from the truth.
For more liberal minded Christians the stories are like a nut, with an outer shell of fabulous storytelling which cracks open to reveal an inner kernel of timeless truth.
As if that conflict over the interpretation of the two stories wasn't enough, the stories also range across some of the biggest issues confronting humankind. We're only a couple of pages into the Bible and yet already we’re being challenged to think about the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
The writer of the second version of the creation story assumes that Eden was in the so-called Fertile Crescent, the cradle of Mediterranean civilization, but modern anthropology tells us that human beings actually emerged out of Africa. This isn't just a matter of the fossil record that we talked about before. It's also proved by our DNA.
Another part of the second story that’s brought into question by DNA is the assumption that the first human being was a man. We now know that Eve was the first human being and the first man, Adam, was her son.
But let's just concentrate on the question, ‘What are human beings for?’ In one sense all life exists to reproduce itself and human beings are no exception. Both stories acknowledge this. God tells the first humans to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
In the second version of the creation story God decides it’s “not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” The story doesn't say that they’re to reproduce but it implies that they must go on to have children because later in the story childbirth becomes painful, a sort of endurance test for womankind.
Nevertheless, the stories see a deeper meaning in human existence. We’re not just like the other living things because, on some level, we’re also like God. The first story says that God created humans in his image, and in the second story God talks to the human beings and treats them as his friends and companions. Humans exist not just to help one another but to help God look after the rest of creation.
Being made in the image of God is a phrase that only occurs three times in the Old Testament, always in Genesis. And it's found nowhere in the New Testament.
However, it’s been a hugely influential idea in Christian history. In his book Dominion,Tom Holland says that the people who inspired the French Revolution thought they were turning their backs on Christianity. They even changed the calendar and got rid of all the holy days. But the new principle of human rights that became the bedrock of their new order, was based firmly on an idea derived from here in Genesis. Because we’re all made in the image of God we’re all of equal value.
This month Geoff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, is getting married. He’s taken over the city of Venice for the occasion. He can afford to, because he’s the third richest man in the world with a fortune of about $234 billion. But that’s not his real value because our true value is that we’re made in God’s image.
But what makes us be the image of God? After all, God’s an eternal Spirit whereas we're physical beings with a fleeting lifespan. How can we be even remotely like God?
Perhaps it's our ability to reason. Animals can reason too. They can work out solutions to problems. But they can't imagine how the world could be changed for the better or wrongs could be put right. Only human beings and God can do that.
Perhaps also, our conscience makes us like God. Animals often know when they've broken the rules and upset the rest of the group. They can be sorry for being found out. But they don't have the complex understanding of the difference between right and wrong that human beings share with God
And perhaps human beings have a uniquely profound ability to have a relationship with God. There are Christian philosophers who believe every living being has has a relationship with God. But for human beings that connection is surely deeper than it is for a guinea pig or a wasp.
Be that as it may, what did the writers of these stories mean when they said that we’re made in God's image and can enjoy companionship with God? Today, most biblical scholars agree that what the writers chiefly had in mind was the stewardship of creation. This is what sets us apart from other living beings. The only responsibility given to other living things, and even to rocks and mountains and seas, is to be themselves, whereas in the first creation story human beings are told to ‘have dominion over’ the other living beings and in the second version they are tasked with tilling and keeping it.
That word ‘dominion’ has caused a lot of trouble. That's why Tom Holland called his book, about the impact of Christianity, Dominion.
Dominion can mean sovereignty or control, as if human beings were being given permission to do whatever they like with the natural world. And sometimes that's how it's been interpreted. But that can't possibly be the meaning here, because we’re to exercise dominion in the image of God. God does not set out to dominate creation but to sustain and care for it. So the job description in the second creation story is perhaps a better place to start reflecting on what dominion really means.
Genesis 2:7 focuses on another aspect of human nature to explain this. We are formed from the dust of the ground (the Hebrew word Adamah). In the end, like all other life on earth, we are made from carbon dust formed in exploding stars. We cannot separate ourselves from nature.
That brings us to the part of the second creation story where God instructs the first human being to ‘till’ the garden and ‘keep it’. Tilling the garden is the sort of work that we would expect farmers to do but the word used here for ‘keeping’ is also used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe the priestly task of serving in and guarding God’s temple.
This makes abundantly clear that having dominion over Nature is not about ripping it apart for our profit. It's a sacred duty of care. Creation is a temple to God’s glory and we are placed within it to reflect God’s image by looking after it. That, in the Genesis creation stories, is what human beings are for!
Of course, once human beings were endowed with powers of reasoning and conscience, it became possible for us to deliberately take the wrong path. This is what it means to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The second creation story reminds us that to err - to reject God's image in us - is human, and the New Testament time and again evokes this story to remind us that to forgive is divine. Jesus consciously reboots the creation story and gives us another chance.
Children in Brittany have been going to the seashore this year, not to gather seashells but Sirens’ Tears, the name they’ve coined for the tiny pearl like beads of microplastic which spilled into the English Channel after an accident at sea. The children felt they had been given a chance to reduce the harm being done to the sea by collecting these Sirens’ Tears.
Picking up a few micro beads on the beach is only a small step to putting right the damage that human beings have done to our planet, but it's a beginning. Like building a bug hotel or sowing wild flower seeds in the garden or on a balcony.
On a different scale, a team of research scientists has embarked on a mission to trace some of the 200,000 barrels of nuclear waste that have been dumped at sea since the Second World War. No one knows exactly where they are or what condition they’re in, so the plan is to find out. Again, it's just a beginning. Humanity has carelessly discarded hugely toxic waste without a thought for the marine environment, but at least now we are beginning to consider how to put that right.
Just like the Genesis stories, the Gospel story can be interpreted in more than one way. The comforting version is that the boat is the Church, tossed about in a stormy world, and we are the disciples. But Jesus has the power to stop the storms from rocking the boat. But what if the boat is the world, tossed about on a rising tide of climate change where we are faced with stronger and stronger storms? If Jesus can command the winds and the water, can he calm the climate? Or is the story telling us that the climate belongs to Jesus just as much as we do and it’s our sacred duty to try to stop things getting worse?
So how can do our bit to be good stewards of Nature? By eating less meat, by taking fewer flights, by taking the train more, by driving less far, by making our clothes last longer, by doing more recycling? And where does looking after our world come in our political shopping list? Is it the most important influence on how we vote or what we write about to our MP?
Whatever we may have done, or not done, in the past, Jesus is giving us another chance to collaborate with God and help to remake creation.
For further reading on this subject see Dave Bookless, director of theology, A Rocha International
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