Michael LeFebvre - The Liturgy of Creation: Understanding Calendars in Old Testament Context

WHAT? ANOTHER BOOK ON THE CREATION STORY? Why cant the scholars just let us read it for ourselves? Havent these scholars already said enough? Is there anything more to be said?

If thats your response, you have my sympathy. Not everyone who has spoken or written an opinion deserves our attention. But with this book, Dr. Michael LeFebvre shows that he is one that we should listen to, that he belongs in this conversation, that his voice is an edifying one.

Dsr. LeFebvre and I have never met face-to-face; we have corresponded by email over the past couple of years and offered one another comments and encouragements. He was in a program with the Center for Pastor Theologians, and I had just given a talk to another group in a similar program with the Center. I was strongly impressed with the quality of the young scholar-pastors that I met, and I have been likewise impressed with the academic depth and pastoral wisdom I have seen in Dr. LeFebvre. It is my pleasure to commend this book to your study.

All serious study of the Genesis creation account should begin with what that account does for the Israelite audience of the whole of Genesis, and of the whole of the Torah. Dr. LeFebvre has done this creatively, with a study of how the Torah uses its calendar references, connecting key events in Israels history to dates in the liturgical calendar; in this he finds patterns that he can apply to the creation accountwhich, as we know, comes to us in the form of a calendar week.

You will find it worth your time to read this book for these first six chapters on the liturgical calendar. If you stop there, you will have gained a great deal of insight into the life-setting of ancient Israel, the function of the festivals and their relation to the agricultural calendar, and the literary style of the Mosaic narration. (Even having studied these topics a bit myself and written on some of them, I found much to learn and to think about.) But, if I might offer some advice, dont stop there! Go on to read the , which give a detailed look at the calendar-like style of Genesis 1:12:3. (Again, having studied and written about that, I found plenty to think about here.)

Dr. LeFebvre has accomplished something remarkable: he has written something that is academically responsible and creative and is at the same time readable and clear for the intelligent layperson. I might add that his overall case is attractive, enriching the conversation. Like any ambitious contribution, his particular arguments will be sifted, reviewed, appropriated, criticized; some of them might need revision, and some of them (or many of them) might change peoples minds! But thats how it should be, and hardly detracts from the viability of his basic proposal. He has connected his own views to a version of the framework reading of the creation account; and in so doing, he has improved that reading and overcome some of the difficulties that others have found with it. All of this he has firmly based on textual evidence from the Bible itself.

Dr. LeFebvre argues that associating biblical events with festival dates does not assert the actual chronology of these events. He has also made it clear that this in no way undercuts the reality of these events themselvesand the same is true of the creation story. I earnestly hope all readers will catch both sides of that!

The does a fine job of putting a practical point on all this: he encourages us to use the creation story according to its proper purpose, especially as we observe the weekly rhythm of work and rest. That account has a limited use in Bible-science debateswhether from the perspective of faith, or that of unbelief; thats not what its there to do. Dr. LeFebvre affirms, as I do, the traditional Protestant doctrine of sola Scriptura; and far from being threatened by the scientific study of the world, and even of human beings, properly understood, this doctrine happily makes a place for these studies. There is plenty more to say on this, of course, but this book has pointed the way to wisdom in handling these matters.

Thats enough from me; now its time to read this book. You will discover that you are in the company of a competent and friendly guide, one for whom you can be thankful to God.

THIS BOOK GREW OUT OF A LONG-STANDING interest in Old Testament law. My initial work in the field focused on the so-called civil or judicial laws. including Israels festival calendars as reflected in this volume. The festival calendars of Israel might seem an obscure focus for study, but one Old Testament calendar is of earnest interest among Christians at all levels. From the pew to the pulpit and the professors lectern, few topics share the importance ascribed to the creation week calendar in Genesis 1:12:3.

The meaning of the creation week continues to be one of the most controversial issues in the church today. But many arguments about the text approach the creation week as a historical narrative or as biblical poetry. As I pursued my study of Israels festival calendars, it gradually became clear that the creation week might best be explained in comparison with the Pentateuchs other calendar narratives. Thus, the volume in your hands began to take shape.

While this is a work of biblical scholarship, my motivation to write emerges from my role as a pastor. My primary calling is to minister in a Brownsburg, Indiana, congregation called Christ Church Reformed Presbyterian. It is my calling in the church that has shaped my concern for the pastoral implications of the creation week calendar. I am thankful for the support of my elders and for the congregation that has provided the community in which I have been able to preach and to study, allowing me to develop many of the insights compiled into this project. I owe a debt of gratitude to my church family. Nevertheless, my arguments in these pages should not be construed as representative of the views of my church or my denomination. The views in this book are my own. However, I could never have developed this project without my ecclesial context and the significant assistance I have gained through the work of others.