glenn morton wrote:
>
> At 02:11 PM 1/15/00 -0500, Howard R. Meyer, Jr. wrote:
> >I'm looking for an exhaustive treatise chronicling the views held by
> >Christians and their Jewish forefathers related to how God created the
> >universe/world/life. I'm sure someone somewhere has done this, but
> >don't know where to look.
>
> I don't know of a comprehensive view, but I do have this tidbit which I
> posted to a private list I am on:
>
> I have often pointed out that Genesis 1 indicates evolution. I have found
> confirmation of this in the Jewish Commentator Nahmanides who lived in the
> 1200s prior to the advent of evolution. He said:
>
> 'AND G-D SAID: 'LET THE EARTH PUT FORTH GRASS.' He decreed that there be
> among the products of the earth a force which grows and bears seed so that
> the species should exist forever. It is possible that the name 'earth'
> mentioned in the first verse already contains a hint that a force which
> causes things to grow should spring up from the earth, and it was from this
> force that the foudnations of all vegetations according to their kinds
> emanated." Ramban(Nachmanides), Commentary on the Torah, Transl. by Charles
> B. Chavel, (New York: Shilo Publishing Co. 1971), p.40
>
> It would seem that we have missed the fact that God told the water to bring
> forth fish and birds and the earth to bring forth plants and animals. We
> act as if God directly created these when in fact he indirectly created
> them by having land and water bring forth life!
1) Glenn's closing paragraph is correct & important but I think it's an
overstatement to say that Genesis 1 "indicates evolution." It would be more accurate to
say that with its language about mediated creation it is "open to an evolutionary
interpretation."
2) It's worth noting that the result of the waters bringing forth life at God's
command is described in v.21 with the verb _br'_ which is uniquely divine creation.
3) A number of the church fathers emphasized the mediated character of
creation in Genesis 1, and Gregory of Nyssa in the 4th century speaks in a way that
sounds very much like some type of evolution, though without biological, geological &c
details. This was discussed in by the Roman Catholic theologian Ernest Messenger in
his 1932 book _Evolution and Theology_ (Macmillan). Unfortunately this book is very
difficult to find.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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