The Creation Story is an important religious text as
it helps people to interpret their values and beliefs
and highlight their own theories of evolution
P1
Ancient texts in the 21st
century
Technology
The Bible is the best
selling book in the world
There is a greater percentage of older
people who read the bible compared to the
younger generation
P2
Bible -> creation story (Genesis)
Hebrew Scriptures -> The Old Testament
Historical, legendary, legalistic, didactic (intended to teach)
Most of the literature is written in Hebrew but a few
passages were written in Aramaic, a kindred language
which came into common usage among the Jews during the
post-Exilic era (After the sixth century B.C)
Old Testament -> Christians
Hebrew Scriptures -> Jews
The Creation Story
Day One
God created light and separated the light from the
darkness, calling light ‘day’ and darkness ‘night’
Day Two
God created an expanse to separate the
waters and called it ‘sky’
Day Three
God created the dry ground and gathered
the waters, calling the dry ground ‘land’, and
the gathered waters ‘seas’. On day three,
God also created vegetation (plants and
trees)
Day Four
God created the sun, moon, and the stars to
give light to the earth and to govern and separate
the day and the night. These would also serve
as signs to mark seasons, days, and years.
Day Five
God created every living creature of the seas and
every winged bird, blessing them to multiply and fill the
waters and the sky with life.
Day Six
God created the animals to fill the earth. On
day six, God also created man and woman
(Adam and Eve) in his own image to
commune with him. He blessed them and
gave them every creature and the whole
earth to rule over, care for, and cultivate.
Day Seven
God had finished his work of creation and so he
rested on the seventh day, blessing it and making it
holy.
The Bible reflects historical situation,
human events, men's reactions to these
happenings, and the belief that God was
also involved in events
P3
Evolution Theory
Charles Darwin; English Naturalist
12th February 1809 - 19th April 1882
2 Major Ideas -> evolution occurs, organisms
change over time -> evolution occurs by natural
selection
Darwin's 5 Theories
Evolution- species come and go through time, while they exist they change
Common Decent- organisms are descended from one, or several common ancestors
and have diversified from this original stock
Species Multiply- the diversification of life involves populations of one
species; this has probably occurred billions of times on earth
Gradualism- evolutionary change occurs through incremental small changes within population; new species are not
created suddenly
Natural Selection- evolutionary change occurs through variation between individuals; some variants give the
individual an extra survival probability
P4
The 'science' behind the creation story
Science alone cannot cater for our spiritual needs
Science if seen as undermining or displacing religion
'Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience'
In science, explanations must be based on evidence
drawn from examining the natural world. Religious faith
does not depend on logical evidence, is not modified in the
face of conflicting evidence and typically involved
supernatural forces. Because they are not apart of
nature, supernatural forces cannot be investigated by
science.
P5
Creation Story & Evolution Theory
in the 21st century
Conclusion
Restate hypothesis, use examples and
reference from research