Exodus then Genesis: experience then understanding

"To return to the roots of the Jewish and Christian traditions means to understand the historical project of liberation carried out in the Exodus, before moving on to the ontological project that God inaugurated in the creation of the universe... It is in light of the Hebrews' being freed from oppression by a foreign military superpower that we have to approach the conceptualization of creation in the biblical narratives of Genesis 1 and 2."_Dorothee Soelle (To Work and to Love, page 7-8)

In order to truly understand the "objective" reality of the creation, to find the real truth of Genesis 1 and 2, we must and cannot help but realize the "subjective," that intangible part of the narrative by which birth was given to the Biblical story of creation. We have to understand the invitation before we can understand the formula. In other words, we must be drawn in to the story, not as objective observers but as subjects participating in the story. This is how the whole biblical narrative works. This is the key to historic orthodox Christian faith: it is a faith which from it's origins has been enacted and not just observed by it's patrons. As Paul wrote during the earliest years of Christianity, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:17). The whole church calendar is structured toward this sort of participation. We practice seasons of the story, we anticipate, participate, and celebrate along with Christ and not just after him.

Exodus, that is the display and out-pouring of liberation, is where the Bible truly starts, it is from the memory of this event that the Bible is written and it is through that lens that we may truly understand where we've been and where we are going. Our roots are not in objective static existence, it is in memory and in remembrance. Experience comes before understanding. We cannot understand the Bible as it should be understood unless we accept the invitation to participate.