As it is Written: The Genesis Account Literal or Literary?

This important study:

• Presents strong exegetical arguments for the six-day creation approach to Genesis
• Illustrates the traditional interpretation of Genesis, a survey of exegetical arguments, and responses to alleged problems
• Demonstrates the flaws in the framework argument.

This book presents in a simple but clear presentation the basic argument for a six-day literal interpretation of Genesis 1. It also explains and rebuts the framework hypothesis, which is a leading view in evangelical academic circles. This book is aimed at intelligent laymen, though with the academic reader in mind, with definitions of technical terms where they are necessary and Greek and Hebrew words transliterated.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• PART I. THE FRAMEWORK / LITERALISM DEBATE
  • Chapter 1 — Introduction and Definition
  • Chapter 2 — Problematic History and Traditionalist Concerns
• PART II. THE TRADITIONAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 1
  • Chapter 3 — Establishment of Genre Type
  • Chapter 4 — Survey of Exegetical Arguments
  • Chapter 5 — Response to Literalism Problems
• PART III. THE FRAMEWORK HYPOTHESIS ERRORS
  • Chapter 6 — Introduction to Rebuttal
  • Chapter 7 — The Triad Structure
  • Chapter 8 — The Genesis 2 Message
  • Chapter 9 — The Two-Register Cosmogony
• PART IV. CONCLUSION
  • Chapter 10 — Final Observations
• Abbreviations
• Select Bibliography
• Subject Index
• Name Index
• Scripture Index

Endorsements

With this book, Dr. Gentry has thrown down the gauntlet, especially for evangelicals, including Reformed and Presbyterian churches. This challenge confronts those views of the Genesis creation account that choose for the literary against the literal, for poetic metaphor instead of historical sequence. The arguments are lawyer-like in their cumulative force, and prophetic in their call to listen to the Bible’s very text. The author has served us well with his clearheaded writing and broad-based defense of the traditional understanding of God’s creation of the world in six sequential 24-hour days.

Dr. Nelson D. Kloosterman

Dr. Kenneth Gentry has taken a scholarly approach in dealing with the subject of creation as expressed in Genesis 1. This book, As It Is Written, is designed in particular to contrast the differences between the “Framework Hypothesis” interpretation of the Genesis account in light of a “Literal six, twenty-four hour Creationist” interpretation. Dr. Gentry masterfully explains the theories, concedes areas of agreement in order to rightfully present each view faithfully and establish the objectionable areas of conflict that are key to understanding Genesis 1. This polemic is designed to reject that system of interpretation which allows for reconstructing various texts to support alternative renderings of the Geneses account that rejecting a literal six day, twenty-four hour interpretation which is the historical orthodox view of Geneses, especially as maintained in the historical church based on the grammatico-historical method of interpretation. This book is a must-read by scholars, pastors, students, and laymen alike. If there is one book you need to read in a time when the literal interpretation of the Scripture, and in particular Geneses 1, has come under attack, this is that book!

Dr. Kenneth Gary Talbot

As It Is Written: Dismantling the Framework Hypothesis is a book that helps guide readers across the debate between the traditional, six-day creation view, and the framework hypothesis or literary framework theory, which attempts to create a bridge between the Genesis account and modern secular science. Kenneth Gentry provides a detailed analysis and powerful refutation to the arguments in favor of the framework hypothesis, while clarifying the exegetical reasoning to defend the literal interpretation of these passages of Genesis. Clear, concise, and thought-provoking!

Dr. Kevin Clauson