Unsettled in the beginning

The Century invited people to comment on their favorite book of the Bible and a book that has helped them appreciate or understand the biblical text. All of the responses are linked here.

I love Genesis for some of the same reasons the church fathers were wary of it. It’s full of embodied human beings who mate, reproduce, and behave erratically. In Genesis the rules have not yet been laid down. Religion has not been settled. It’s a bit rough around the edges—just uncertain people lurching toward God. I can relate to this back and forth better than I can relate to the disciples in Acts who are so confident in “The Way.” I like the layers in these old stories and how the different strands are often at odds with each other.

There is movement and there are setbacks, and most of the time no one really seems to understand comprehensively.