You are invited to the next gathering of the staff of the theology colleges in Brisbane and gathering for a presentation by the Brisbane branch of the Australian New Zealand Association of Theological Schools (ANZATS)
On March 29
at Malyon College, 53 Prospect Rd, Gaythorne QLD 4051.
The guest speaker is Prof Douglas Green who is speaking on
“‘In the Beginning God Created Heaven and Land’: A ‘Heavenly’ Perspective on Genesis 1:1-8.”
Please pass this on to others who may be interested
Douglas Green is Senior Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew Exegesis at Queensland Theological College
Originally from Sydney, Doug lived in the US for 33 years. His PhD (Yale University) is in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature and he taught Old Testament at Westminster Theolgical Seminary in Philadelphia from 1992 to 2015. In 2016, he returned to Australia and now lectures at Queensland Theological College.
“‘In the Beginning God Created Heaven and Land’: A ‘Heavenly’ Perspective on Genesis 1:1-8.”
The opening words of Genesis 1:1 (traditionally, “In the beginning God created …) continue to be hotly debated. On the other hand, there is a virtual consensus that the final words of the verse (again, traditionally, “the heavens and the earth”) are a merism that refers to the entire cosmos. In this paper, however, I propose a different reading of the second half of the verse, namely, that it refers not to the creation of the entire universe but to two distinct realms within it: the invisible dwelling place of God (“heaven,” rather than “the heavens”) and the place that will eventually be inhabited by humanity (“the land”) and that this creative act occurs before the beginning of the seven days of Genesis 1. I will then seek to show how this reading of verse 1 influences the interpretation of the following verses (e.g., meaning of tōhû wābōhû in v. 2, the source of the light of Day 1, the absence of the approbation formula – “God saw that it was good” – from the account of God’s action on Day 2)
This is a valuable opportunity to catch up with fellow lecturers in ministry and theology from across the city, and to learn further insights about teaching from the Old Testament. Please pass this on to others who may be interested.
You and a representative from your college are invited to the business meeting that will precede Dr Green’s presentation from 12.30 to 1.20 followed by Dr Doug Green at 1.30 to 3.00 and afternoon tea to 3.30.
The ANZATS conference this year is hosted by Carey Baptist College, in Auckland, from Monday 1 July until Wednesday 3 July.
Paper proposals are due by March 30, 2019.
https://anzats.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ANZATS-Call-For-Papers.pdf
https://anzats.edu.au/conferences/
I look forward to keeping in touch, and catching up.
Kind regards
Sam
THEOLOGY@Brisbane 