How to Think about Genesis, Hermeneutics, and Unity

In many ways, Genesis is a book about division.¹ Creation comes into being by division, like that between light and dark, land and water, earth and sky (Gen 1:1–12). The creation contains within it a diversity of creatures (e.g., Gen 1:21–2:3). And at the end of the primeval prologue, humanity’s common tongue diversifies into multiple languages (Gen 11:1–9).

But division isn’t only a theme within the text of Genesis. Often enough, the book is also the subject of division. Interpreters part with each other in their understandings of

• the significance of Genesis’s status as Scripture,
• the kind of story Genesis tells, and
• the kind of truth claims that Genesis makes.

Exactly and specifically in these places of difference there is, naturally, disunity. And yet, this disunity is never absolute.

So too, readers across the centuries come to Genesis precisely to find resources for fostering unity. And as such readers do so, they show what is entailed in interpreting texts like Genesis to this end—for good or ill.

Present Lessons from Pasts Near and Far

Of course, readers very much continue to seek unity with others by engaging Genesis. And they do so even as they disagree over how to read the text and what kind of unity they seek. So, from both nearer and farther, better and poorer examples of this kind of work, those who continue to engage both Genesis and other texts can learn a good deal about what it means to read for unity.

So, in cooperation with Daniel Oden (Harding University), a fine slate of contributors, and the production team at Bloomsbury T&T Clark, I’m delighted to see out our new volume Reading for Unity in Genesis 1:1–11:9.² The volume’s essays discuss how Genesis figures in unity appeals from widely varying times from the Ancient Near East to the twenty-first century and in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In doing so, contributors particularly attend to why and how these appeals connect themselves to the text and work to foster unity as they do.

In short, this volume examines what it means to read for unity by considering this reading’s diverse manifestations. Along the way, the contributors explore how unity

1. may or may not be a good and wholesome thing,
2. is inevitably bound up with difference,
3. both requires identifiable characteristics for a group and offers invitations to extend connection and resist exclusion,
4. often isn’t so much a result of reading Genesis 1:1–11:9 as it is a presupposition for such readings, and
5. relies on common tradition to underpin various subordinate unities or disunities.

Genesis 1:1–11:9 and other texts will continue being the subject of agreements and disagreements among readers. Yet even the disagreements issue invitations to unity as readers render themselves adaptable to each other and, especially, to the text through the particular “rigor” of “hermeneutical experience”—namely, “uninterrupted listening.”³

Initial Responses to the Volume

Already, the volume has received some very kind praise, including from Mark Hamilton (Abilene Christian University), who says,

Genesis has long fascinated Christian (and Jewish and other) readers because of its vision of the universal human experience of creatureliness before God, and its instantiation of that universality in the particular stories of recognizable human individuals and families. The Bible’s first book exudes the dynamic tension between unity and diversity that also characterizes the church’s life. In this learned and beautifully lucid book, a team of skilled authors and editors explore the possibilities of healthy unity emerging from the encounter between committed readers and the ancient biblical text. They exhibit not only the richness and variety of Christian readings responding to Genesis 1–11, but also the possibilities such readings raise for the church’s ongoing life as a body experiencing its unity from a common baptism while also seeking deeper and more visible expressions of that unity in its irreducible diversity. A highly stimulating book, much to be commended.

Myk Habets (Laidlaw College) comments,

Biblical studies are flourishing, with renewed attention to figurative and theological interpretation deepening our grasp of Scripture. In this volume, Stark and Oden gather leading scholars to explore Genesis 1–11 through the lens of the whole canon, uncovering its enduring theological significance. This cohesive collection advances hermeneutics and doctrinal theology alike, offering rich insights for scholars, theologians, and students committed to faithful exegesis.

And according to William Olhausen (Trinity College Dublin),

These thought-provoking and imaginative studies in the hermeneutics of unity model a species of mediation-the laying of a biblically informed wisdom for the deep pastoral task of reconciliation in an often fractured and polarized church. As a pastor and a teacher, this important volume will continue to encourage and inspire me to pursue a loving and truthful unity that is animated by the Spirit of Pentecost.

How to Get the Volume

The volume is now available. If you’re ordering from the United States, the volume will ship immediately. International orders will begin arriving sometime after 16 April.

You can get your copy from Amazon, Bloomsbury, or any number of other sellers. But if you order directly from the publisher, I’ll be happy to send you a coupon code for a 35% discount on your order. Just drop your email in the form below, and I’ll get that to you.

We hope you find this work helpful as you think about and work toward unity—whether about the text of Genesis or any number of other important issues.