Lesson 9: Is the Bible's account of Creation compatible with science?

• Students will become more familiar with the various ways in which the Biblical creation narratives are interpreted in today’s world.
• Students will understand the ways in which scholars reconcile their scientific knowledge with their beliefs about the origins of the world.
• Students will analyse how the Biblical account of creation and scientific perspectives might align or conflict.

• Students can describe the core elements of the Bible’s creation accounts and the various ways in which a scientific understanding is applied to the text.
• Students can express both their understanding and their doubts related to the compatibility of a scientific perspective and a biblical account of creation.

Students sketch an image that describes what they believe about how the world began.

When completed students share what they drew and why they drew it, with the person next to them.

Teacher facilitates student response, including to the following statements on beliefs about the creation accounts:

• “The Bible is still relevant and helpful today”
• “Science and the Bible are incompatible”
• “We can’t know how the world came into being”

If you’re unfamiliar with this learning protocol you can read the instructions and access a slides template for the Human Barometer Activity.

The class brainstorms the issues or problems that might exist when trying to reconcile what we know about the Bible’s account of creation with modern scientific theories about the creation of the universe and the evolution of life.

Students use ONE of these clips for the following learning activities.

• Clip: John Dickson – Reading the Genesis creation accounts (Part 1) (5:50)
• Clip: John Dickson – Reading the Genesis creation accounts (Part 2) (5:43)
• Clip: John Lennox – Seven days that divide the world (8:46)
• Clip: Prof. John Walton – Reading Genesis in its context (4:55)
• Clip: Prof. John Walton – Genesis 1 and modern science (2:56)

In small groups students complete a ‘Connect-Extend-Challenge’ activity for the clip they watched.

In the same groups students discuss and record answers to the following questions, before presenting them to the class:

1. What is the main argument of the video? What are the reasons given for why the scholar thinks the Biblical account of creation can be read in harmony with modern science?
2. What do you think are the main strengths and/or weaknesses of their argument?The class brainstorms the issues or problems that might exist when trying to reconcile what we know about the Bible’s account of creation with modern scientific theories about the creation of the universe and the evolution of life.

Students read the article ‘How should we read the Bible’s account of creation?’ (5 min). They identify which of the ways of reading Genesis that Simon outlines makes most sense to them?

Students read the article ‘Categories of creationists … and their views on science’ (6 min). OR just read the Kettle Analogy and discuss the following questions:

1. How could both Christians and modern scientists be guilty of ‘confusing causes’ when it comes to thinking about the creation of the world and the life in it?
2. In your opinion, does the kettle analogy help to reconcile the Bible’s account of creation with common scientific belief? Can you think of any other analogies which could also be helpful?

Students read Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Psalm 33:6-9.

1. What do you think is the genre of these passages?
2. What are the key things that these accounts of creation are attempting to convey?
3. What information about creation do these passages not give us?
4. The Bible’s creation account is written to illustrate big truths about the world and our place in it. In light of Psalm 33, what implications would there be for us if this account were true?

Students imagine they are publicly debating someone who is arguing that belief in science and the Bible’s account of creation are incompatible.

What arguments could you use to challenge their views? What extra information would you like to have to build your argument?

Students consider what questions or doubts (if any) they still have about how the Bible’s account of creation might be compatible with modern scientific theory? These can be written on a post-it-note to be displayed in the classroom.

Students complete the ‘I used to think … Now I think …‘ thinking routine in light of the information and opinions they have explored in the lesson.

Students read the two papers by John Dickson – ‘The genre of Genesis 1: an historical approach’ (17 min), and ‘The purpose of Genesis 1: an historical approach’ (21 min) and write a one-page reflection on the ideas presented in these papers that you found interesting and that shed further light on how to read Genesis 1.

OR

Students explore the bite-sized video interview clips from CPX’s Science vs Faith collection, and write a one sentence summary for three of the videos.