In Back Door Introduction to the Bible, John Kaltner and Steven L. McKenzie state that “The problems that have come from taking Genesis 1 as history are well known.” They were not so well known to me. I grew up thinking that Genesis was accepted by all Christians as plain historical fact. I was surprised when this book so confidently said that this theory isn’t supported by careful reading of the text. It really changed my perspective on the text. I had always gone into reading the bible as though everything written was historical fact. The possibility that Genesis could be fictional- more like a fable- had never crossed my mind.
I think this serves as an example of how perspective can deeply change people’s interpretations of things. In Back Door Introduction to the Bible, the authors talk about how differences in interpretation lead to the “fight over teaching creationism as science in public schools, and museums featuring Adam riding on a brachiosaurus.” Imagine if people had come in reading Genesis as possibly more of a fable. These kinds of things wouldn’t have been argued for so hard. Genre really changes the context of words and how people translate them.