.Noah's Flood WTJ2004[1] (original) (raw)

Old Testament Chronology and Its Implications for the Creation and Flood Accounts

The past two hundred years have witnessed the rise of a dozen or more different views by evangelicals regarding the creation and flood accounts. This raises the question if it is possible in light of the Old Testament chronological data to determine reasonable dates for the creation and flood accounts. Complicating the discussion is the issue of whether or not there are gaps (missing names) in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11.

The Genesis Flood: 50 years on

Origins, 2011

In this article we will trace the history of Christian thought that led to The Genesis Flood being written and seek to evaluate its impact over the last five decades.

When did Adam live

When did Adam live?, 2024

In the first paper of this series, I presented the argument that Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, does not provide strong support for the argument that Adam was the first human. In this paper I reexamine the early chapters of Genesis and ask the question "What clues does Genesis provide for determining a time period for Adam"?" I propose that Genesis places Adam in Southern Mesopotamia (a region known as Sumer) and that he lived between 3200 BC and 3000 BC.

Genesis and World Chronology

Kerygma, 2022

Distrust of Genesis as history has been fostered by uniformitarian geosciences and Deep Time chronology. The reality or otherwise of a global flood has a crucial bearing on world history and chronology. Evidence of disparate kinds favouring such a flood from Scripture, from geoscience and from anthropology is presented. Radiocarbon dating, suitably calibrated for the flood discontinuity, substantiates a Compact Time chronology of thousands of years for earth history. This is reinforced by comparison of flood model radiocarbon dates for ancient Near Eastern sites with those independently obtained by archaeologists. Further corroboration of the Genesis chronology comes from discoveries of preserved soft tissues, proteins and even DNA in fossil dinosaur bones and in other specimens from throughout the geologic column. Belief in a recent, rapid creation is credibly defensible by science divested of secular naturalist ideological constructs. Compact Time chronology rehabilitates belief in the historical reality of the Genesis accounts of the origin of life and the origin of death.

Historical Context (Genesis)

The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation, eds. C. A. Evans, J. N. Lohr, and D. L. Petersen (Leiden: Brill, 2012), pp. 51-81.

Noah in Egypt Before Flood? Part One (b): Cain and Abel

Scholars, relying primarily on the information supplied by Josephus, as a supplement to Genesis-but also using other legends, and by re-interpreting some of the ancient mythology-have made a pretty good fist of reconstructing (but only in barest outline) the antediluvian world.

Fleming, Daniel E. “History in Genesis,” Westminster Theological Journal 65 (2003): 251–62.

History has always mattered to Christians. "If Christ has not been raised," says Paul, "your faith is futile" (1 Cor 15:17, NIV). God's great acts in history must not be the figments of human imagination, fictional illustrations for some ancient writer's theological ruminations. Unfortunately, the Bible's memory for history is not above doubt, and, especially with the rise of modern critical scholarship, many have doubted. When it comes to the facts regarding basic events, their settings, and who was involved, the more distant past is the most susceptible to a global sense that the whole thing is made up, or at least has gone through so many stages of removal from the setting described that the product has lost any connection to its point of origin. Unsurprisingly, such stories of Israel's distant past allow the least possibility for evaluation in light of independent evidence.

Noah's Vineyard: Its Narrative Significance and New Creation Trajectory

Despite the importance of viticulture to ancient Israelite society and the pervasiveness of vineyard imagery in the HB, little work has been done on the theological significance of the vineyard. Furthermore, few commentators ascribe much, if any, significance to Noah’s first act after God’s covenant with him—planting a vineyard (Gen 9:20)—which also happens to be the first occurrence of kerem in the HB. This act is often overshadowed by what follows—Noah’s drunkenness and Ham’s sin. Thus, this paper will explore the narrative significance of Noah’s viticultural activity in Gen 9:20. On the basis of my conclusions regarding Noah’s vineyard, I will make broad observations regarding the significance of the vineyard in the HB. Specifically, I will argue that Noah’s act of planting the vineyard functions as a sign of his trust in God’s promise that the Lord’s judgment has ended. In this, his act is analogous to Adam’s procreation with Eve (Gen 4:1) and David’s procreation with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12:24). Furthermore, as the Noah narrative is told as a story of the decreation and recreation of the cosmos, I will argue that the vineyard acquires the connotation of New Creation or creation renewal. This connotation appears in conjunction with vineyards in later biblical texts, and ultimately culminates in Isa 65:17–25, in which vineyards are an integral part of the promise of the new heavens and new earth.