Genesis

The creation story stands as one of the most familiar in Scripture. But, says best-selling author Robert Farrar Capon, most of us misconstrue it. The reason? We have fallen into the habit of reading Genesis the way we read all Scripture - as a manual of religious instructions. To break this (bad) habit, Capon here offers a whimsical yet fruitful approach - watching the Bible as a historical movie whose director is God. Though Capon does have fun with this concept, he's very serious about its liberating effects. "When you watch a movie," he says, "you never ask questions about whether the events depicted actually happened. Instead, you accept the history the director shows you on the screen. And, as Capon points put, we typically suspend judgement of a film until we've seen all of it, letting later scenes inform and enrich earlier ones. That, he says, is exactly how we need to see Genesis - as just the beginning of the whole movie of Scripture. Using this novel approach in Genesis, the Movie, Capon develops a commentary of theological scope and depth on the first three chapters of Genesis. He gives every verse as it appears in the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate, as well as in the KJV, RSV, and NRSV versions of the Bible. Making extensive use of Augustine's commentary of Genesis in his Confessions and De Genesi ad Litteram, Capon also shows the interpretive freedom with which the church's fathers and mothers approached Scripture.