Here are three exegetical reasons why the cosmic shell view should be reconsidered, and why the waters above need not have been placed beyond the stars. The waters above must be beyond the stars, they insist, because they were positioned “above the expanse” which was named “Heaven” on Day 2 (Genesis 1:7–8), and God set the stars “in” that very “expanse of the heavens” on Day 4 (Genesis 1:14–19). Humphreys, Faulkner, and Mortenson all claim that the cosmic shell view is the most natural reading of the text. He says that it may now be in the form of “a tenuous veil of ice particles, or perhaps broken up into planet-sized spheres of water with thick outer shells of ice.” 8 Faulkner believes instead that the use of the Hebrew term ‘waters’ ( mayim) indicates that they somehow managed to remain in a liquid state. 8 This shell need not have remained in a liquid state or as one contiguous body, according to Humphreys. 7 As the shell of upper waters rapidly receded from proto-Earth, it thinned to form a spherical halo (or cosmic shell) surrounding the entire universe, quickly reaching a size of at least 24 billion light-years in diameter. Meanwhile, Humphreys proposed, God pushed the upper shell of ‘waters above’ outward so that the ‘expanse’ ( raqiya‘) between the two bodies of water quickly grew to envelop all of what would become “interstellar space”. The inner sphere was to undergo further changes during Creation Week to become more like the earth as we know it, with its now familiar dry land, oceans, plants, and animals. On Day 2, God allegedly split this sphere into a much smaller inner sphere and a larger outer shell of water, leaving empty space in between. ![]() The sphere is equated with the primordial ‘deep’ of Genesis 1:2 and its surface was “the face of the deep” over which the spirit of God hovered. 5, 6 In Humphreys’ model, on Day 1 God initially created a giant sphere of liquid water which included the inchoate earth. 4 Similar views have been espoused by Faulkner and Mortenson. ![]() While a form of the cosmic shell idea was advocated long ago by such historical figures as Martin Luther (figure 1), its modern incarnation was developed and popularized by creationist physicist Russell Humphreys. Illustration from Martin Luther’s 1534 German translation of the Bible, showing liquid waters surrounding the entire universe. A summary of the cosmic shell view Wikimedia commons Figure 1. Though the cosmic shell view has become popular among contemporary creationists, it faces several challenges that require attention. This view will not be defended here other than indirectly by way of critiquing the fourth proposal-that the waters above refer to a shell of ice fragments or liquid water surrounding the entire universe. 3 My own view is that the waters above refer to clouds. This perspective is inconsistent with inerrancy, and it also has serious exegetical problems. 1, 2 Creationists also rightly reject the second view, held by liberal scholars, that the biblical authors conceived of the waters above as a liquid ocean suspended over a flat earth, held back by a solid vault in the sky. This theory has fallen out of favour due to its numerous biblical and scientific problems. In creationist circles, it was once popular to believe the first view-that the earth was originally surrounded by a vapour canopy which collapsed at the time of Noah’s Flood to produce its 40 days and nights of rain. To what do they refer? Many views have been offered, but most Bible readers subscribe to one of four positions which can be summarized using the following shorthand names: (1) a pre-Flood canopy, (2) a vaulted sea, (3) clouds, and (4) a cosmic shell. ![]() In the Genesis account, the waters below are later given the name “Seas” (Genesis 1:10), but God does not name the waters above. Three problems are outlined, leading to a recommendation that the cosmic shell view be reconsidered.Īmong Bible interpreters, there is a notable lack of consensus regarding the identity of “the waters that were above the expanse”, which God separated from “the waters that were under the expanse” on Day 2 of Creation Week (Genesis 1:7). But this ‘cosmic shell’ view faces several exegetical difficulties. ![]() Many creationists believe that the waters God placed “above the expanse” on the second day of Creation Week depict waters surrounding the entire universe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |