OCR special
God as creator
An important topic for AS philosophy of religion, Jon Mayled explores issues arising from a consideration of God as creator
OCR G571: AS Philosophy of religion
The Bible describes God as the creator of the earth and all life on it. However, there are not that many references to this in the Bible itself. When God is described as creator in the Judaeo-Christian tradition it means essentially that:
‘God caused and causes the universe to exist;
God is responsible for the universe coming into existence and continuing to exist;
God is responsible for everything which exists within the universe. In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.’
Genesis 1:1,2b
One Christian interpretation of this is that God’s breath (wind) was the Holy Spirit shaping the earth.
The accounts of the creation of the earth and of animals and humanity are slightly different in the two biblical creation stories (Genesis 1:1–2:3 and Genesis 2:4– 3:24), but God’s work in creation is clear in both of them. The power of God is further emphasised in passages such as:
‘It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in’
Isaiah 40:22
God as a craftsman
’God the creator is sometimes compared to a craftsman, as in Job 38:
‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements — surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Job 38:4–7 ‘
Creatio ex nihilo
Christianity teaches that God created the world out of nothing. This teaching comes from Genesis and Job. However, the following passage from the Psalms seems to suggest an earlier idea that God created from unformed matter:
‘ Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.’
Psalm 104:25– 26
A clear idea in the scriptures, found in both the biblical creation stories, is that human beings are placed above all other life forms:
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet
Psalm 8:4–6
There are other ideas about God as creator in the texts, including:
‘ Imago Dei Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’.
Genesis 1:2 6a
The meaning of this passage is certainly unclear and open to interpretation.
The serpent
The serpent in the Garden of Eden is linked with Satan in Christian beliefs, but it is worth noting that this link was made long after the Genesis story was written. Belief in Satan only originated after 537 BCE.
In Genesis the serpent tempts Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The snake is punished for its role in the fall by being made to crawl on its belly in the dust (presumably it originally had legs), from where it can bite the heels of humans.
‘ The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.’
Genesis 3:14–15
The serpent here is playing a trick and produces a double-edged gift: Adam and Eve gain knowledge but lose Eden. The use of a serpent in this story almost certainly comes from ancient near eastern traditions, where they are associated with, among other things, danger, death, magic and secret knowledge. It may also have links with Canaanite iconography. The nude goddess Qetesh is associated with a serpent and it could be a juxtaposition of the serpent as the Great Mother Goddess of the Canaanites and Eve the Mother of all Life.
The first Jewish text to connect the serpent with the devil is probably the Wisdom of Solomon, and the idea is further developed in the Apocalypse of Moses (both are deuterocanonical texts).
Christianity has always made a strong link between the serpent and Satan.
‘And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’
‘Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.’
Revelation 12:7–9, 17
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) called Mary the ‘conqueror of dragons’, and she was shown crushing a snake underfoot. This is also a reference to her title as the ‘New Eve’.
Creation’s beauty
The Bible pictures God as the creator of an ordered, beautiful and ‘perfect’ world. This is shown in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Christians would maintain that the beauty and order of the world shows God.
‘The beauty of the universe: The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man’s intellect and will.’
The Catechism of the Catholic Church §341
Myth or truth?
In biblical terms, a myth is a story that communicates a set of values or beliefs through imagery. It is the message that is important not the truth of the imagery.
For many Jews and Christians the creation stories are literally true even if it is accepted that the Hebrew word for what is generally translated as ‘day’ actually means a ‘period of time’.
Myths usually provide a key set of values that help form part of the identity of a society. Most religious traditions have early creation stories that are myths and express beliefs about God as creator. The Genesis creation stories can be seen in the same way. They show Jewish beliefs about God as creator and about human beings as the most important part of creation.
There are good reasons to suggest that the Genesis stories are myth rather than the literal truth. Science suggests strongly that the world is 4.5 billion years old and that many species of animals, such as dinosaurs, lived long before humans or the writing of the Bible.
It is possible that the Genesis stories were written under the influence of texts such as Psalm 104, which refers to creation in essentially the same order as Genesis 1.
The 7 days of creation may have developed ideas from the Canaanite creation myths, which are associated with the ancient city of Ugarit (now in Syria). God’s spirit moving across the waters is an idea found in early Canaanite texts and the first two verses of Genesis 1 reflect a concept found in Canaanite creation stories where God the creator battles the chaotic god of the oceans. It is not thought that the Genesis myths have links to the Babylonian ones.
When the Bible refers to God the creator it is stressing the belief in God as creator, and is not really concerned with the date when the earth began — 6,000 years ago or 4.5 billion years ago. Aquinas stated that the belief in God as creator is concerned with God causing the universe to exist and continuing to cause it to exist.
This article is the responsibility of RELIGIOUS STUDIES REVIEW and has been neither provided nor approved by OCR.