chapter 3: the creation of the world

Chapter 3: The Creation of the World

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

ANTICIPATORY SET When people use the tools of science to understand nature, which question do you think they are more likely to ask:

(1) How was the universe created? or (2) Why was the universe created?

When people use theology to understand the universe, which of those two questions do you think they are more likely to be interested in answering?

Genesis is a religious account of the Creation of the universe. The Sacred Author was not intending to communicate precisely how God created the universe, though it seems to be presented that way; rather, he was showing why God created it.

1. A Covenant with the Universe (pp. 43–51)

BASIC QUESTION Why did God create the universe?

KEY IDEAS Genesis 1 portrays God creating a good universe. Creation is a great Temple for the worship of God. The universe is itself a covenant between God and

man with Adam as High Priest.


FOCUS QUESTIONS How does the first day of Creation express the idea of the creation of time? The separation of light from darkness—differentiating day from night even before the creation of the sun—shows the occurrence of time, the succession from one state to another How does the second day of Creation express the idea of the creation of space? The universe was previously described as “water,” which God separated by the firmament. Where there was only one place, now there are two. What do the earth, the sea, and all plants have in common? God saw that they were good.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What does God do on the fourth day of Creation? He makes two great lights: one to rule the day, the other to rule the night. What does God do on the fifth day of Creation? He creates creatures to live in the sea and in the air. What is the blessing God gave the sea and winged birds? He gave them a blessing to be fruitful and multiply, filling the seas and the earth.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the last thing God created? After having created living things for the land, God created man. How is man a unique creature? God created man in his image and likeness. What is the blessing God gave man? Man is to multiply and have dominion over the earth and every creature.


GUIDED EXERCISE A think / pair / share on the following question: What was God’s conclusion about his creative work?


FOCUS QUESTIONS Why can the Creation account be understood as two sets of three? During the first three days God created forms, and during the next three days he created inhabitants to fill those forms: sun and moon (day and night), birds and fish (sky and sea), and animals and humans (land). What is the relationship between the two groups of three described in the previous question? The second group rules over the first: sun and moon rule over day and night, birds and fish rule over sky and sea, and animals and humans rule over the land. What is the relationship between swearing a covenant and the number seven in Creation? In Hebrew, “to swear a covenant” and “to seven oneself” are identical. By creating the world in seven days, God is making a covenant with creation. Seven is also the number representing perfection.


GUIDED EXERCISE A think / pair / share on the following question: What is the relationship between God’s creative act and Jesus Christ (see third paragraph, p. 49)?


FOCUS QUESTIONS How is Creation like a great Temple for the worship of God the Creator? God created an “extra” day—the seventh, or covenant, day—which he blessed and hallowed. God rested on this seventh day and invites us into this day of holy rest Why is God immovable? God is everywhere and cannot go from one place to another; he is already there. How does God experience time? God fills all of time. For God the past, present, and future are as if one moment.


GUIDED EXERCISE A focused reading of the section “Creation is Good” (pp. 50–51). To do a focused reading, read the Focus Question. Then read the passage silently, keeping in mind the question. Then reread the question and formulate your answer. How do Catholics respond to those who say the physical world and the human body are evil?


FOCUS QUESTION Why did God create the world, according to Genesis 1? God created the universe to share himself with his creation. Genesis 1 presents creation as a kind of Temple for the worship of God. What is the view of most Catholic interpretations of the Creation with respect to the literal number of days Creation took? Most Catholic interpretations do not take the position that the universe was created in six 24‑hour days. How is the Hebrew view of history different from modern views of history? Modern historians try to record events that happened, just as they happened, in chronological order. In Genesis, the “religious historians” captured the Truth about man’s relationship with God, specifically why God created, not how he created.


CLOSURE Free write for five minutes about why God created the universe according to Genesis 1.


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Study Questions 1–3, 5–9 (p. 64) Workbook Questions 1–15 Read “The Creation of Human Beings in the Image of God” through “God Our Father” (pp. 52–55)


ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT

Take part in a class discussion about what it means to say the Genesis account of creation is true.


ANTICIPATORY SET Read Matthew 19:1–9.

(Recall the Anticipatory Set about Christ perfecting the Mosaic Law, p. 24.) In this passage, how does Christ fulfill the Law?

2. The Creation of the Family (pp. 52–55)

BASIC QUESTIONS What does it mean to be made in the image of God? What is the nature of marriage? In what sense is God our Father? KEY IDEAS Human beings are created in the image of God. Each marriage is a covenant instituted by God between a man and a woman. God, as a loving Father of his children, created Adam and Eve to co‑create with him.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Who instituted marriage, and when? God instituted marriage at the moment he created man male and female. What are the four marks of marriage? Marriage was created to be permanent, lifelong, indissoluble, and fruitful. How is the human family like the Trinity? The Trinity is an infinite family of three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God has designed marriage so that, in love, two become one, then three, then four, then five... biologically, psychologically, and socially.

2. The Creation of the Family (pp. 52– 55)

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER Work with a partner to complete the following table about the meaning of man’s having been created in the image of God.


GUIDED EXERCISE

Do a think / pair / share on the Catechism, no. 369 (p. 54), on the creation of man as male and female with the mission of being fruitful.

Discuss the implications of this doctrine in light of the following: Divorce Polygamy Male supremacy Homosexual acts; bisexuality and transgender

issues Artificial methods of birth control


FOCUS QUESTIONS According to the Catechism, no. 289, were the first three chapters of Genesis written by one person? Perhaps; these texts may also have diverse literary sources and so multiple Authors.According to the Catechism, no. 289, what truths of creation are expressed in the first three chapters of Genesis? These truths are expressed: 1. The origin and end of creation in God; 2. Creation’s order and goodness; 3. The vocation of man; and 4. The drama of sin and the hope of salvation According to the Catechism, no. 289, what is the importance of the first three chapters of Genesis for understanding Catholic doctrine on Creation, the Fall, and the promise of salvation? These chapters are the principal sources. Of course, they must be properly understood, that is, in “the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church.”


FOCUS QUESTIONS What two names for God are used in Genesis, and what is suggested by each? The name Elohim suggests the infinite power of God the Creator, whereas Yahweh, often rendered “LORD,” suggests God’s “covenant” love, his love as Father for us. What is the connection between Adam and the Old Testament priests? The words used to describe the work God gave Adam to do in the garden, “to till it and keep it,” were the same words later used to describe the work priests would perform in the Temple. In what sense were Adam and Eve, as husband and wife, participants in Creation? Adam and Eve were to participate in the Creator’s work of transmitting life to their descendants. God also entrusted them with the care of the created world.


CLOSURE Use the completed Graphic Organizer on page 53 to write a well‑organized paragraph about the meaning of having been created in the image and likeness of God.


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Study Questions 10–17, 19 (p. 64) Workbook Questions 16–25 Practical Exercise 3 (p. 65) Read “The Fall” through “Creation and Evolution” (pp. 56–61)


ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT A class discussion, revisiting the idea of creation as a vast Temple and Adam as its priest What are the implications of this for us in our work, in our relationship with nature, and in our family life?


ANTICIPATORY SET Analyze the illustration on page 57, “Eve, the Serpent, and Death,” painted during the sixteenth century. Share details you notice about it.

3. The Fall of Man and the Question of Origins

(pp. 56–61)

BASIC QUESTIONS How did Adam and Eve fall from grace? What is the Protoevangelium? What is Original Sin? What is the attitude of the Church toward evolution and scientific progress? What metaphysical questions are raised by the study of the origin of the universe and man?

KEY IDEAS Adam and Eve were seduced by the serpent and brought spiritual death to themselves and their descendants through Original Sin. God promised Adam and Eve a Savior; the curse they incurred is a manifestation of God’s love. Original Sin is a wound in human nature. While the Church rejects polygenism because it contradicts Original Sin, she is open to physical evolution and rejoices in the discoveries of modern science. Important metaphysical questions, which science cannot answer, arise from the consideration of the origin of the universe and man.


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS Why did Eve decide to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? After the serpent lied (she would not die but would be like God, knowing good and evil), Eve saw the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, and it was to be desired to make one wise. What is the nahash? Nahash is the Hebrew word for the serpent that tempted Eve. In the Old Testament, nahash is used to refer to powerful, evil creatures. The nahash here is a deadly liar. What was the gravest work of the Devil that Christ came to earth to destroy? “The mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God” (CCC 394).


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What things, more important than natural life, did Adam and Eve lose when they sinned? They lost supernatural life, original holiness, and original justice. Why does the Church baptize infants? She does so because of Adam’s sin, which is transmitted to every person by generation. What “wisdom” did Adam and Eve gain from choosing to disobey God? Their eyes were open to their own nakedness and sin.


(pp. 56–61)

GUIDED EXERCISE Conduct a think / pair / share on the following question: Why does the Church see God’s words to the serpent as the “First Gospel,” or Protoevangelium?


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS How did Adam and Eve behave like guilty children after their disobedience? They ran away and hid from God. Why did God ask Adam and Eve questions when he already knew the answers? He gave them a chance to come back to him by confessing what they had done. How did Adam and Eve respond to God about their disobedience? Adam blamed Eve and then God, and Eve blamed the Serpent.


(pp. 56– 61)

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER Complete the following table to organize the consequences of the Fall (Original Sin).


(pp. 56–61)


(pp. 56–61)

GUIDED EXERCISE Do a paragraph shrink of the four‑paragraph section on page 59 (“This is the curse... the cure for their illness.”). Read the passage silently, identify the main idea and the two to four most important details, and then rewrite the whole passage in one or two sentences.


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What was the first “fruit” of Adam and Eve’s sin? It was fratricide: Cain murdered Abel. What was the root of Cain’s sin? It was envy. How did Cain present himself when confronted by God? Cain presented himself as a persecuted victim. When God asked him where his brother was, Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gn 4:9). Then he claimed God was going to make people try to kill him.


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the teaching of the Church concerning the evolution of the human body from preexisting material? The Church is not opposed to the human body and all else physical having evolved from preexisting material, even living organisms. However, the soul of every human being, including the first, has been created directly by God at the moment of conception. What two hypotheses about evolution does the Church reject? She rejects the ideas that (1) after Adam there existed on the earth true humans who did not descend from him and (2) Adam represents a larger number of first parents. Why does the hypothesis of polygenism lead to a denial of Original Sin? The effects of Original Sin are passed down by generation from parents to children, beginning with Adam and Eve. Had there been human beings not descended from Adam and Eve, their nature(s) would have been unaffected by Adam and Eve’s Original Sin.


(pp. 56–61)

GUIDED EXERCISE A mini-lecture about the effects of Original Sin Original Sin is transmitted to every human person by way of a wounded human nature. The effect of Original Sin is not moral guilt as if the person has committed personal sin; it is a wounded nature that tends to sin. Because of Original Sin, the intellect is darkened, which makes the truth harder to find; the will is weakened, which makes the good harder to do; and the passions tend to dominate reason and the will. Because of Original Sin, people experience pain, sickness, and eventually death.


(pp. 56–61)

A mini-lecture about the effects of Original Sin (continued).

The chief consequence of Original Sin is the privation (lack and need) of sanctifying grace; people were made to be in relationship with God and share in God’s own life, but Original Sin alienates them. The Sacrament of Baptism restores sanctifying grace to the soul, though it does not restore human nature from its wounds. There are two common errors with respect to Original Sin: 1. some exaggerate the effects of Original Sin; for example, John Calvin taught human nature is totally depraved, and the Manichæans claimed everything physical is evil; 2. some underestimate the effects of or deny Original Sin altogether; for example, Rousseau and the Romantics claimed people are totally good by nature but corrupted by society. Which reading of Original Sin best explains human history: 1. man is naturally perfectible; 2. man is totally corrupt; or 3. man possesses a basically good but wounded nature?


(pp. 56–61)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What are some questions enriched by modern science about the origins of the world and man? Understandings of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life forms, and the appearance of man have been enriched by modern science. What is man’s natural, religious response to the discoveries of science? Man gains an even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator and thankfulness for the knowledge he has given his creatures. What basic metaphysical questions exist about the origins of the world and man? First, is the universe governed by chance; fate; necessity; or a transcendent, intelligent, and good Being? Second, why is there evil, where does it come from, who is responsible for it, and is there any liberation from it? These metaphysical questions go beyond the ability of modern science.


(pp. 56–61)

CLOSURE Write a well‑organized paragraph about the effects of Original Sin.


(pp. 56–61)

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Study Questions 18, 20–27 (p. 64) Workbook Questions 26–41 Practical Exercises 1–2, 4 (p. 65)


(pp. 56–61)

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT A class discussion about the question of origins using questions such as these: What is the attitude of the Church toward evolution and scientific progress?

Some scientists claim science has disproven the Bible and even the existence of God. Why are these not scientific conclusions?

Why can science not answer metaphysical questions about the origins of the universe and man?


(pp. 56–61)

The End

chapter 3: the creation of the world

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