Creation in Scripture

About the Author\nDr. Herold Weiss is professor emeritus of religious studies at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. He is a native of Montivideo, Uruguay and received his B.A. from Southern Missionary College, his M.A. and B.D. from Andrews University, and his Ph.D from Duke University. He was also an affiliate professor of New Testament in the Hispanic program of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary for many years. Dr. Weiss is author of Paul of Tarsus: His Gospel and Life and A Day of Gladness: The Sabbath Among Jews and Christians in Antiquity, and co-author (with Cosgrove and Yeo) of Crosscultural Paul: Journeys to Others, Journeys to Ourselves. He has been married to Aida since 1962. They have two grown sons and four grandchildren, ages 13 to 1. They still live in the house they built in the woods of SW Michigan in 1973, in Oronoko Township.\nThe creation-evolution controversy is one of the most contentious in Christianity. It may appear to many to be much less important than issues with more direct moral implications. Yet how we view the relationship between science and religion will have a significant impact on how we live and on how we understand our faith and our world.
Herold Weiss comes to this issue not as a scientist, historian, or a philosopher, but rather as a student of Scripture. He believes that the various authors of Scripture view creation in varied and sometimes contrasting ways. Many discussions of creation focus on the first three chapters of Genesis, but Weiss takes in the entire scope of scripture, looking at creation in the prophets, the wisdom literature, Genesis 2, Genesis 1, Romans, the Corinthian letters, Colossians, Hebrews, and finally Revelation.
In a book of this size it is impossible to study all of these areas in depth, but Weiss provides an excellent overview that will help any student of the Bible gain a better perspective on how creation impacts biblical teaching on a variety of issues. His presentation is representative, rather than exhaustive, but it provides a breadth that is much needed, and often lacking, in discussions of this issue.
No matter in which way the biblical authors viewed creation, they were free to affirm their faith in the Creator. Weiss helps us understand that we, like them, can also affirm our faith in the Creator God no matter how we view the natural world and the universe in which we live. The Bible itself demonstrates the independence of faith from any and all cultural descriptions of the material reality of which we are a part.