The purpose of this research is to examine the merits of two - apparently contradictory and obstinate-points of view regarding the origin and existence of the universe, and the life which is in it; and, with an especial reference to the presence of human life on the planet of our residence.
Due to the nature and complexity of this topic, the researcher can only advance a rather modest presentation at this time. Moreover, the length of the exposition is necessarily abbreviated in order to abide by the prerequisitional limitations imposed. Therefore, the presentation will be confined to comparing the version of Creation found in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Pentateuch with the Theory of Evolution, originally propounded by Darwin and Wallace, as it is currently understood by the
scientific community, and without making any other comparisons - odious, or otherwise - with the creation epics of other people.
It is still being debated by Biblical scholars, and theologians of diverse religious persuasions, whether or not one of the creation accounts in Genesis infers that God created the universe "out of nothing," or that He produced the world from a disordered mass of matter, or chaos. However, the prevailing con-sensus of opinion is that the latter explanation was the actual case, and seems to reflect, more accurately, the sentiment of ancient Israel on the matter.
Jewish and Christian hermeneuticists rally around the con-viction that God "created" order out of chaos. That is, He formed, from the maelstrom of disorganization, a cosmos which exhibits a prescribed orderliness and regularity, continually being governed by His laws to enable it to function in harmony with itself. However, the creatio ex nihilo hypothesis is still tenaciously held on to by Fundamentalist interpreters of the Bible. But the vast majority of scholars and theologians, of the so-called "mainline" Christian denominations, as well as many Jews, have ...