Only by taking Genesis 1 out of its historical context could one say that raqiaʿ means merely “an atmospheric expanse” or, as the more sophisticated conservatives say, “just phenomenal language.” In the ancient world the sky was not just phenomenal. The ancients did not just refer to the appearance of the sky as being solid. They concluded from the appearance that the sky really was solid, and they then employed this conclusion in their thinking about astronomy, geography, and natural science. The