Alex, thanks for your comment. While there are many Christians today who see no reason to dichotomize evolution and their faith, I can certainly understand the dissonance it creates, especially for those raised fundamentalist. It’s difficult to take the first chapter of the book figuratively and then take other parts literally. If it starts out with a made up story without indicating that it’s made up why should you buy into the part that says, “Stop doing that thing you enjoy; it’s sin.” The burden of genre sorting is one not wished for by those accustomed to reading the Bible univocally in a literal manner.

But we would be remiss in not acknowledging a middle option of accepting evolution but maintaining the Christian worldview by reinterpreting Genesis in accordance with academic scholarship. To be sure, accepting evolution mandates a more mature and responsible reading of the biblical texts if one’s faith is to be maintained. A solid grasp of biblical studies and ANE literature, among other fields of study, assists with this and graduates you from the viewpoint of ‘Genesis is bullshit’ to ‘Genesis is a creation myth, one of many, written by a prescientific people struggling to understand the world.’ Many Christians around the world have made this transition.

Mike,

Thanks for dropping a comment. I take your question to mean do I believe that the Bible was inspired by God. I should iterate first that my personal beliefs are irrelevant to the academic study and understanding of this ancient literature, and I have attempted to dutifully set them aside so as not to color my synopsis. In short, my personal beliefs do not change what we’ve learned about the Bible.

With that said, at this stage of my intellectual journey, after reflecting on manifold modes of inquiry, I do not believe that the Bible was inspired by a deity. Too much of it was “borrowed” from the neighbors, too much of its narration historically woolly, too much detestable morality portrayed otherwise. That’s not to say that some of it wasn’t inspired by *belief* in a deity. When you cast a cross-cultural net you find dozens of ancient texts that various peoples have regarded as “holy”, divine or otherwise sacred. There is nothing in any of these texts that has convinced me they were the product of a non-natural, discarnate entity, and that includes the biblical corpus. I believe they were authored solely by man, drawing upon natural inspiration, the same inspiration that drove Shakespeare, Cervantes, Thoreau and Twain to pen their works of art. Biblical and other writings may have been attributed in various ways to a god over time, but I believe their origin to be thoroughly human.

Even so, I am open to changing my mind, if new evidence and understanding emerges in the future. I also read the Bible weekly (sometimes daily), as I find good portions of it inspiring and educational. As touched on in this piece, to penetrate the minds of people living so long ago—before science, before electricity, before transportation, before philosophy—is truly wonderful, and its poetry has value that fits on no time scale.

Hope that helps 🙂