Genesis, Genre and a Parent's Complaint
St Brigid's Junior Cycle RE team has 24 students in second year. The teacher used a worksheet comparing Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, asking students to identify different images of God and the literary structure of each creation account. A parent emails the principal: 'My child was told the Bible is not true. We are practising Catholics and I want the historical truth taught.' The principal asks the RE teacher to respond in writing and to adjust the next lesson. The school's ethos statement commits to Catholic education while welcoming students of all faiths and none; the Junior Cycle specification requires students to analyse biblical texts in context. The teacher has one 40-minute class before the parent meeting. Two students have already asked whether 'the serpent really talked.'
1. Write the substantive paragraphs of the reply to the parent, explaining how the lesson distinguishes literary genre from historical truth without implying that Genesis is false.
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The reply should begin by treating the parent's concern as legitimate: they are worried that a Catholic school has undermined their child's trust in Scripture. The key move is to separate three questions that the worksheet conflated in the parent's mind: what genre the text uses, what it affirms as true, and how the Church reads it. Genesis 1-3 is not a modern chronicle; it uses ancient Near Eastern literary forms, including poetic repetition, symbolic numbers and theological narrative. The Catechism (CCC 101-114) and Dei Verbum 12 require attention to literary forms, and the Church has long read Genesis as teaching religious truth about God, creation, human dignity and sin rather than as a scientific or journalistic account. This is not saying the text is 'not true'; it is saying that its truth is primarily theological. Avoid the phrase 'just a myth', which sounds dismissive. Offer a meeting and invite the parent to see the worksheet and the syllabus outcome. The tone should be pastoral and confident, not defensive.
2. Plan the next 40-minute class so that the teacher neither retreats from the method nor humiliates the parent or students.
Read the worked answer
Open by acknowledging the question rather than shutting it down: 'Some of you have asked whether the serpent really talked, and a parent has asked whether we are saying Genesis is false. Both are fair questions.' Use a board split into two columns: 'What Genesis 1 says about God' and 'What it says about the world.' Ask students to find two different images of God in Genesis 1 and 2, and note that the two accounts differ in order and style because they come from different traditions. Address the talking serpent as a genre signal: in wisdom literature and myth, animals speak to reveal character and temptation; the point is the nature of temptation, not zoology. Set a class norm: a literal reading is one reading, but Catholic tradition asks about genre and intention. Do not debate the parent's faith in class or allow students to mock the parent. Close with an exit ticket asking one thing the text teaches about God and one question they still have. If a student says 'so it's false', correct it: 'The text is true in what it teaches about God and humanity; it is not a biology textbook.'