DAY 91
CHALLENGE
“By allowing Catholics to interpret the six days of Genesis 1 in a symbolic way (CCC 337), the Church sets a dangerous precedent that could undermine the Faith. If this is symbolic, how do you know other things—such as the Resurrection—aren’t?“
DEFENSE
Everyone recognizes that Scripture contains symbolism. It’s a matter of correctly identifying it.
It can be tempting to reflexively classify things in Scripture as literal (or symbolic) to avoid sorting out the difference, but we must under- take this task.
Humans use both literal and symbolic speech, and we constantly discern the difference, often without being conscious of it. If someone says we need to “roll out the red carpet” for a dignitary, English speakers intuitively recognize this is a non-literal way of saying he needs to be given a special welcome. It is an expression known for its non-literal use in English.
When we encounter writing from other cultures, it can be harder to tell literal from symbolic since we are less familiar with their literary conventions, but it can be done. All recognize that the biblical prophets used symbols and Jesus told parables. This shows we can learn to recognize non-literal forms in Scripture.
Often symbols are identified by cues in the text that reveal they are not literal. For example, the creation of the sun on the fourth day, when the sun’s presence is what makes it day, is a cue the days of Genesis 1 are not literal (see Day 90). No human witnessed the creation of the world, and Genesis, written somewhere around 1000 B.C., was penned long after the event. Genesis 1 is more likely to be non-literal than a text written soon after an event and using eyewitness testimony.
The latter is what we have with the Resurrection of Jesus. The New Testament was written within a few decades of the Resurrection and was composed by or in consultation with eyewitnesses (cf. Luke 1:2, John 21:24). It also contains emphatic statements about the Resurrection’s reality (cf. 1 Cor. 15:1–20).
We need have no fear that recognizing parts of Scripture are symbolic will undermine the Faith any more than Jesus’ use of parables does.