Literary Genre of Genesis 1:1 -2:3

I am still here.  I have been busy and have been "devouring" books on the origin of life.  I have not begin to master everything that is known, yet, mind you.

A book I am currently reading on this topic and would like to recommend to you is titled "Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off" by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross (NavPress 2004) from the Reasons To Believe (www.reasons.org).  The book can be found here and probably elsewhere.

In my previous post I paraphrased Bruce Waltke in his commentary of Genesis, here in his actual words:

Questions concerning the relationship of the Genesis creation account and science can only be addressed intelligently by determining the literary genre of Gen. 1:1-2:3.

He then continued to provide the four categories for the creation account in Genesis: myth, science, history, or theology.

Creation and Myth: by the word myth one means a story that explains phenomena and experience, an ideology that explains the cosmos.  Myth addresses metaphysical concerns that cannot be known by scientific discovery.

Creation and Science: Genesis describes life-support systems, heavenly bodies, species of flora and fauna, and other natural elements of earth.  However, the creation account has distinct differences from a scientific document that (1) it focuses on God as the ultimate cause, (2) the account was described using everyday speech, in order to drive home the point that the creation is a result of God's creative acts, (3) Genesis is prescriptive, answering the question of who, why, and what ought to be, science answers the what and how, (4) Genesis addressed the covenant community of God on their way out of Egypt into the promised land.

Creation and history: Genesis allows the tracing of the history of Israel all the way back to Adam and Eve.  However, Genesis will not satisfy the demands of modern historiography.  For one, no humans are present for during the acts of creation.  The are also  differing opinions in interpreting the "days" of creation.  The narrator has a theological agenda: to tell us that God created the earth and that it is all very orderly, an agenda not shared by a majority of modern historians.

Creation and theology: Even though the narrator has a theological agenda, he does not systematically present abstract truths about the divine, instead, he tells us a story about the Creator and his creation.

So, what is the genre of the creation account in Genesis? It is not easy to fit it in any one of the mentioned slot.  Anyone who follows the structure, design, alternating and concentric patterns of Genesis and the choice of words in the original language will readily admits that it is artistic.  The Genesis creation account is clearly a representation of creation intended to strengthen God's covenant with his people.  It presents God as the ultimate cause, the One who does not need any introduction nor explanation of his origin.  He just is there (to borrow Francis Schaeffer's phrase).

Pitting scientific opinion and Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 will take us nowhere closer to a complete and coherent understanding of the origin of life.  The thirst to understand the origin of life scientifically is a noble pursuit.  Without pursuing the Originator himself that has become a matter of life and death.