Which interpretation of Genesis 1 do you think the most appropriate?

 

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Well, I think we should first determine precisely the background and focus of the Genesis creation account before moving to such question that can open door to many legitimate interpretations.

The Genesis creation account was first delivered and dedicated to God's chosen people after their rescue from the Egyptian captive. thereafter the Genesis account of creation was conveyed to them so that they can understand their identification with God himself. Their mind was occupied with surrounding culture of polytheism and they had theological questions. Genesis 1 was addressing their query with timeless truth about God, his relationship with creation and humanity.

Keeping in mind these things, I believe the appropriate interpretations that fits Genesis 1 are Framework hypothesis, ancient near Eastern polemic account, and Cosmic temple inauguration. A mixture of these views must have been the original context that audience perceived. remember, they didn't have questions about fossils, geological ages, dinosaurs, DNA, evolution and Big Bang like us. The plain text reading for them was simply their language and understanding of contemporary culture and worldview.

Modern day interpretations attempt extracting scientific knowledge from the ancient Genesis which actually had ancient worldview such as three tier universe and seeing cosmos as God's temple. We try to see where Big Bang, evolution and dinosaurs fit and come up with varieties of views like Day-age, Gap, Ideal time and so on.

Some might argue dynamic nature of language and vocabulary which can be valid. perhaps we may attempt to interpret Genesis 1 in our context and in term of modern language. Christian apologist such as Dr. Hugh Ross is excellent at this. While this approach might be helpful the way apologetics provides cosmological and teleological arguments, the honest honour to the scripture is to read it in its original context. In light of speech-act theory, the concern of Genesis 1 wasn't the worldview but the theme of God and his cosmos. The same theme runs today while the worldview of this cosmos has changed a lot since millennium past.

To sum up, I think we need to grab the original context rather than modern in order to understand Genesis creation account. There goes non-concordist interpretations.

Resources concerned:

1)      Michael Heiser

2)      John Walton

3)      How (Not) to Read the Bible, DanKimball

4)      Inspiring Philosophy

5)      Ben Stanhope

6)      Biologos