Gerald L. Schroeder - Perspectivalist View of Creation

[August]

"Deep within Psalm 90, there is the truth of a physical reality: the six days of Genesis actually did contain the billions of years of the cosmos even while the days remained 24 hour days." p43, The Science of God, G.L.S.

That is the bottom line of Schroeders approach. Schroeder is a physicist and theologian who has written quite a lot on reconciling science and Scripture. He asserts that one should study science, and specifically physics, in order to really understand how creation fits together. No surprise there.

Schroeder writes that the 6 days of creation contains all the ages (generations) of development of the universe, up to the point where the "human" calender starts, with Adam. He refers to Gen 2:4 (Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.) and Gen 5:1 (Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.) to demonstrate that "day" actually can contain generations.

Schroeder then shows how the theory of relativity describes how time can be faster or slower in areas of higher and lower gravity. This means that in areas of very high mass, which equates to high gravity, time will pass slower relative to "earth time". A sequence of events that may seem to take a long time from one perspective, or view point, will in fact have taken place much faster.

He goes into a lot of detail to describe this concept, but I think the concept is clear. There are many places in the universe, he says, where we can place clocks which will tick so slowly that 15 billion earth years would pass while only recording six 24-hour days. The passage of time depends on one's position or perspective.

It gets a bit more complicated from here, and I am not sure I can do it justice by trying to paraphrase it.

I would recommend reading his article: http://www.geraldschroeder.com/AgeUniverse.aspx for further clarification, and read his book, The Science of God for even more details.

****Personally I am not impressed with him as theologian, he is an open theist and also not a Christian. His views on time is what first got me interested, and while I think his views have some interesting arguments, ultimately it leaves me with a big "So what?" feeling.

[Gman]

Yes, I've read your blogs on it. How does the perspectivalist view differ from the day-age view in your opinion? It seems similar. Thanks..

[DannyM]

"Deep within Psalm 90, there is the truth of a physical reality: the six days of Genesis actually did contain the billions of years of the cosmos even while the days remained 24 hour days." p43, The Science of God, G.L.S.

That is the bottom line of Schroeders approach. Schroeder is a physicist and theologian who has written quite a lot on reconciling science and Scripture. He asserts that one should study science, and specifically physics, in order to really understand how creation fits together. No surprise there.

Schroeder writes that the 6 days of creation contains all the ages (generations) of development of the universe, up to the point where the "human" calender starts, with Adam. He refers to Gen 2:4 (Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.) and Gen 5:1 (Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.) to demonstrate that "day" actually can contain generations.

Schroeder then shows how the theory of relativity describes how time can be faster or slower in areas of higher and lower gravity. This means that in areas of very high mass, which equates to high gravity, time will pass slower relative to "earth time". A sequence of events that may seem to take a long time from one perspective, or view point, will in fact have taken place much faster.

He goes into a lot of detail to describe this concept, but I think the concept is clear. There are many places in the universe, he says, where we can place clocks which will tick so slowly that 15 billion earth years would pass while only recording six 24-hour days. The passage of time depends on one's position or perspective.

It gets a bit more complicated from here, and I am not sure I can do it justice by trying to paraphrase it.

I would recommend reading his article: http://www.geraldschroeder.com/AgeUniverse.aspx for further clarification, and read his book, The Science of God for even more details.

****Personally I am not impressed with him as theologian, he is an open theist and also not a Christian. His views on time is what first got me interested, and while I think his views have some interesting arguments, ultimately it leaves me with a big "So what?" feeling.

This is just nice, acceptable theoreticising of which I have no real objections. Could you tell me who the quote in your last paragraph belongs to please, August?

[August]

The whole post is mine, including the last paragraph.

[cslewislover]

I like it, but "it all starts from Rosh Hashanah"?

I was trying to find an article about his theory on the main site, but couldn't find one. This surprises me quite a lot, since we have it as a profile choice! Am I missing something? If not, it seems to me that we should have an article up.

[frankene]

Thanks for share. If possible, please post some more




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[dayage]

Here is an older short response to Schroeder's view:

http://www.reasons.org/response-genesis-and-big-bang

As a Christian, I see Hebrews 4 as a big problem for his theory. It says that we are still in the seventh day, so the days are long periods of time.

[truthman]

I find it VERY interesting. I am sure I too would disagree with his theology, but it sounds like his physics are along the same line as what I've been thinking.

[Canuckster1127]

I'm thinkng that too truthman as I've been reading your material. I think Schroeder would be of great interest to you if you're not already familiar with him.