What is "Genesis"?
A rhetorical analysis by Ella Kopper, FA25 Writing Team
Genesis 1:3
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
The beginning of existence, as explained by the Old Testament, starts with this usherance of light. Ask the priest or the prophet questions of our existence and you will surely be taken back to the creation of life described in the book of Genesis.
Translated to Latin, it becomes “fiat lux”, a phrase championed by Enlightenment thinkers, those who pointed toward the empirical truths and knowledge that eclipsed the divine explanations of our existence and a push toward knowledge and what can be proven quantitatively. Ask the physicist questions of existence and you will be taken back to the laws of Newton, Darwin, theories of relativity, and the Big Bang.
Truth versus truth. Light versus light.
Genesis stands at the intersection of what informs truth and belief. Whether we turn to science, religion, or other means of explanation, there is a human tendency to trust that someone, something will have an answer for us. In youth, my parents felt all-knowing but as Santa Claus and the Lord’s Prayer became narratives that I no longer subscribed to, this unwavering trust waned. With age I haven’t gained wisdom but rather more questions. Who do we look to when we run out of answers? How do we find the truth or reconcile with the fact that we may never find it?
