The Firmament and the Water Above. Fourteen Centuries of Genesis Exegeses

Abstract

In the preceding chapters, we have “interviewed” more than twenty exegetes of Genesis (from Origen to Marin Mersenne) “spread” across fourteen centuries, from Origen’s Homilies of about 240 to Mersenne’s work of 1623. Our problem, now, is to understand if it is possible to derive from our interviews an interpretation that is, so to speak, historical; that is, to see whether or not the different interpretations of the famous three verses reflect what was happening in the world around, both religious and cultural, in the various periods crossed. But we must, first of all, explain a question regarding the cosmological model inherent in the text of Genesis. Though at scientific level the question has been widely explained, we think that a revisitation of the problem can result useful, since in the common opinion the conclusions of the scholars are not always shared.