Notes on the Genesis Creation Days

As a scientist and a Christian I have long been interested in the opening chapter of Genesis dealing with creation. This chapter has generated considerable controversy both within and outside the church. Since this chapter clearly identifies God as the creator, it will certainly conflict with the views of those outside the church who believe that everything can be explained in terms of undirected natural causes. However, this chapter has also generated considerable controversy within the church. The controversy here centers primarily on the timing of the creation events and whether the account should be interpreted literally or as a literary form. In the paper entitled "In Six Days" (see the link below) I try to summarize the major interpretations of the creation days in Genesis 1. I begin by giving some historical background of the controversy. This is followed by a discussion of some of the difficulties involving the Hebrew language in which Genesis was written. Since I am a scientist by profession, I next discuss the interplay of science and revelation. After all of this background I describe the major interpretations of the days of creation and give the major arguments for and against each one. I am not writing as an advocate of any of these positions. There are intelligent and committed Christians advocating each of these positions and each one is deserving of our consideration. I close the paper by giving some statements concerning creation on which hopefully all Christians can agree.

An Adobe Acrobat file containing the paper can be opened by clicking on the link below. To open this file you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine. This program is a free download from the Adobe site. You can go to the download site by clicking on the Adobe Reader icon at the bottom of this page. To download the file right-click on the link and select Save target (link) as.

In Six Days (PDF) File: Genesis1.pdf (107 KB)

• Reasons to Believe website

  Reasons to Believe is the organization founded by Hugh Ross. This organization promotes a form of progressive creationism, but the website has many excellent articles on science and its relationship to the Christian faith.

• PCA Creation Report

  This is the report of the Creation Study Committee to the 28th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) dealing with the various viewpoints on the creation days in Genesis.

• Westminster Theological Seminary Statement

  This site contains a statement of the faculty of the Westminster Theological Seminary concerning the "Days of Creation" that was voted on in 1999.

• The ASA statement on Creation

  This is a statement on creation drafted by a subcommittee of the Commission on Creation of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) in 2000. This subcommittee had members representing various viewpoints within the ASA. It begins with a general statement accepted by all the members of the subcommittee followed by statements describing the unique features of each of the major viewpoints.

• The "Days" of Creation in Genesis 1

  This is an article on the "days" of creation written by Prof. Gerhard F. Hasel. It contains a lot of historical and background information and presents the case for a literal interpretation.

• Accuracy in Genesis

  This site contains a number of articles concerning the accuracy of the Genesis creation account.

• Position of the Catholic Church

  This site presents the Catholic position on the creation days. It also contains a number of statements by some of the early church Fathers that illustrate the variety of opinions that existed in the past concerning the length of the creation days.