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September 26, 2021Dear Parishioners,
God blesses our parish with a school. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to form the next generation. It also gives me an opportunity to visit the classrooms and answer questions. One third grader proposed the question: “How was God able to create the world in only six days?” I always enjoy questions such as these because it gives me an opportunity to speak about the relationship between faith and science.
How do we understand the word “day” in Genesis? Contemporary scientific investigation dates the earth at 4.5 billion years old and the galaxy at a whopping 13.7 billion years old. Genesis chapter one seems to describe the creation of the entire universe over a span of a mere six days of twenty-four hours each. How do we understand the creation account of Genesis chapter one considering modern science? What is the meaning of a “day” in Genesis?
It is sometimes risky to harmonize everything we have in scripture to the science of the day (it is a movement called Concordism). Sometimes science changes and we find the interpretation of scripture tied to an outdated theory. But this should not discourage us, since both reason and faith, science and religion (when done correctly) can never contradict. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (159) tells us, “Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.” In other words, faith and reason have the same source: God.
So how long is a “day” in Genesis? The Hebrew word for “day” is yom and can have at least three meanings: (1) A period of twenty-four hours. (2) The period from sunrise to sunset. (3) A time period of an unspecified, but finite length. In the writings of the Church Fathers (writing at the very beginning of Christianity) there are various opinions concerning the length of these days. For instance, Augustine writes, “...we must bear in mind that these days [our contemporary understanding of “day”] indeed recall the days of creation, but without any way being really similar to them.” Augustine interpreted “day” in Genesis according to the third meaning of yom.
The Church has not definitively stated which meaning of yom applies to “day” in the Book of Genesis. So, we as Catholics are free to interpret a “day” in Genesis according to our contemporary scientific understanding. Hence a “day” in Genesis can mean hundreds to millions of years. Thank you to that third grader for the excellent question!
God bless,
Fr. Barrow
