Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 10:2 (Fall 2019)
Article: Introduction: A Holistic Biblical Cosmology
Author: H. H. Hardy II

STR 10:2 (Fall 2019) p. 1

Introduction:
A Holistic Biblical Cosmology

H. H. Hardy II

Guest Editor

Cosmology is possibly the most discussed topic in biblical studies over the last century. The amount of scholarship is astonishing. Monographs, book series, journals, magazines, conferences, and even entire publishers are devoted to exploring the various nuances of the biblical description of the cosmos and its creation. Likewise, researchers in the sciences have increasingly narrated the genesis of the cosmos and life. From the theoretical framework of the Big Bang to common descent, scientists exegete the big questions of existence and beginnings. While it would appear that the present is a golden age of creation research, settled conclusions are rare, and agreement is often fragmented, even within disciplines. The breadth of these accounts is as diverse as the world’s biomes. Amongst both scientists and biblical scholars, different hermeneutical methods, inquiries, and assumptions about the universe as well as its description lead to drastically different views of our shared reality.

Even biblical scholars with a high view of Scripture and similar interpretive frameworks understand biblical creation in quite diverse ways, and their approaches to cosmology produce wide-ranging outcomes. The reasons for these disparities are too varied and complex to list here. Distinctions in focus and scope of study have produced divergent biblical cosmologies. One especially notable factor is the constraint of cosmological investigation to a single text, namely, Genesis. Due to its highly systematic and comprehensive language, the Genesis creation account is understandably centered in many explorations. But the overwhelming majority of studies emphasizes this narrative to the exclusion of comparable material from elsewhere in the biblical canon. The Scriptures, however, are filled with recurring themes of cosmic description (cosmology) and cosmic origin (cosmogony). Creation language is a repeating refrain. Within the Old Testament alone, examples include but are not limited to Exod 20:8–11; 2 Kgs 19:15; Isa 40:12, 21–22; 42:5; 45:12, 18; 48:13; 51:13; Jer 5:22; 10:11–12;

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