Genesis - A Modern Telling

Bob Ambrose, Jr.

A Perspective on Deep Time.

First Genesis presentation.
Second Genesis presentation.

Description:

First Genesis

Genesis 1 was written by poet-priests reflecting the cosmological understanding of their time. Eight acts of creation were fit into 6 days. This lesson is composed of poems reflecting the scientific understanding of our time. It covers the physical evolution of the universe and the biological evolution of plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Second Genesis

Second Genesis addresses the cultural and spiritual awakening of modern humans. It touches on the development of consciousness, reasoning, and agency, and also the feelings of separation and loss. This lesson is composed of poems reflecting the current scientific understanding, with rhythms and allusions to biblical texts from Genesis and Job.

First Genesis

1. Prelude (First darkness to final void)

• So it Goes

2. Origins (Primordial - Stelliferous Ages to Hadean Eon)

• First Genesis
• The Birth of Gaia

3. Archaic Times (Archeon - Proterozoic Eons to Cambrian Period)

• First Greening
• First Nursery

4. Middle Times (Paleozoic - Mesozoic Eras)

• Second Greening
• Chitin Creatures
• Transition
• Scales

5. Recent Times (Mesozoic - Cenozoic Eras)

• Third Greening
• To Make a Songbird
• The Epic of Mammals

6. Intermezzo

• Sabbath

Second Genesis

• Second Genesis
• The Shadow of Heaven
• Migration
• Introspection
• Between Birdsong and Boulder
• Praise

These poems are from Section 1, Origins, in the evolving manuscript “Between Birdsong and Boulder - poems of nature and spirit.” 

Presentations of First Genesis:

• University United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas. Explorers Class, December 3, 2017
• First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia. Cornerstone Class, May 6 & 13, 2018

Presentations of Second Genesis:

• University United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas. Explorers Class, December 2, 2018
• First United Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia. Cornerstone Class, May 12, 2019

A Note on Gaia
Excerpts from Wikipedia:

In Greek mythology, Gaia is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. 

The mythological name was revived in 1979 by James Lovelock, in “Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.” The hypothesis proposes that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamical system that shapes the Earth's biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches, the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions.