The opening chapters of the Bible are among the most contested and least understood. Read literally, they are often used as a narrow test of orthodox belief; read as mythology, the depth of their significance is lost. Playing in the Dust offers a fresh and forward looking way of reading the creation stories that is positive, adventurous, undefended, inspirational and exploratory. It seeks to present these stories as foundational to an integrated and generous faith that is unafraid to engage with the contemporary questions facing the church, and it presents an understanding of creation as the ground of all faith. It asks what does creation demand of God and what does it demand of us? Conversational in style, short chapters journey through the two (very different) creation stories, pausing to explore the wide variety of themes and questions they throw up, including what it means to be created 'out of nothing' and to be made in God's image, living in a world where there is danger, ecology and dominion, human sexuality and relationships, desire and temptation, freedom and obedience, rest and play, judgement and exile, and more.
