This week we will start our study of Noah and the flood. We will be covering Genesis 6:9 through 8:22. Our next session will be an overview of the entire story and a look at it from our normal Western theological perspectives. We are also going to make note of the inconsistancies and holes in the story by asking questions.

• Genesis 6:9 through 8:22

  Text from The Bible Gatewaystarting with Chapter 6

  Genesis 6

• Scripture Audio:

  Presented as dramatizations from The Bible Gateway

  Genesis 6 Audio
  Genesis 7 Audio
  Genesis 8 Audio

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• Suggested Study Resources

  The following four resources should be helpful. Of course feel free to chase down any study rabbit holes that you want to chase. This is your deep dive in the Word.

• 9 Things You Should Know

  First, a short article from The Gospel Coalition that lists 9 things that you should pick out of the story. Make a note of the chiasm that they outline. As we have discussed before, these chiasms point to the particular point of the story that the original authors thought was important.

  Article Link

• God’s Spirit-Flood Narrative

  This second resource is a podcast from The Bible Project. It focuses on God’s Spirit in the flood narrative. While not Jewish in nature, they do bring up some strong Jewish perspectives through this podcast

  Podcast Link

• If God Remembers, Does He Forget?

  If we believe the chiasm in this story, then the most interesting point is that God remembers. This is an article from The Bible Project that asks he question, “If God remembers, does he also forget?”

  Article Link:

• Article from The Guardian

  This last resource is not from a Christian perspective. It does offer several perspectives found in our society that I think it is important to be aware of. I found it to be an enjoyable read.

  Article Link:

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• EXTRA CREDIT ARTICLES:

  We are back to having extra credit. These are resources that we probably won’t spend any time discussion in our next session, but if you are wanting to get deeper into the study of this text, these should be valuable.

  Catholic Catechism

  This link points to the Catholic Catechism that mentions Noah and the Flood directly. For non-Catholics, it may be valuable.

  Link

  Noah and the Flood in the Septuagint

  A good article that outlines the issues of translating between Hebrew, Greek and other languages where the nuance of the language is lost. Discusses some concerns in the Noah story that are often glossed over in theological contexts.

  Article Link:

  The Theology of the Flood Narrative: Literary Structure, Biblical Allusion and Divine Characterisation

  An interesting academic article on the Theology of the Noah story that mixes theological, literary and Interpretive concepts together.
  Article Link:

The Flood story is one of those stories where even kids often go … Huh? As Christians, we tend to gloss over the incongruities, and questions that arise from this text. In other cases, we try to explain away these issues. Often, to hilarious result for those outside of the Christian community.

Since we will be spending additonal weeks looking at this story in the Bible the main thing you should do this week is look at it with a critical eye.

• What things seem incongruent or inconsistant?
• What holes are there in the story that don’t seem to have an answer for you.
• What things in the story would make a 6 year old go … Huh?

Write them down. These are the things we want to ponder over the next few weeks. With one of the main questions being; does it matter?