Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives by P. C. Bouteneff

This is not a commentary of the usual genre, but a study too valuable to pass over. Bouteneff zeroes in on the first four centuries of Christian interpretation, with special attention to the Church’s reflection on Genesis 1–3 and with one specific question in mind: “how literally did they read the creation narratives?” He begins with Paul and the New Testament, surveys the 2nd-century apologists (Justin, Melito, Theophilus, Irenaeus), discusses the 3rd-century “World of Origen and the Origin of the World” (including Turtullian), and reviews representative 4th-century figures (Cyril, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa). This informative study goes a long way toward correcting those approaches which dismiss patristic commentators as premodern or prescientific, or which fail to appreciate how allegory and typology actually functioned in the early Church. Bouteneff has rendered a service that is biblically, theologically, historically, and hermeneutically rich.

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