in the past hundred years: they are interpreting the text from their own situation or context. Genesis 1–11 and science The exploration of the world by sailors in the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries indicated that Genesis 10 could no longer be regarded as an authoritative account of the geographical disposition of the world and its peoples. However, at the beginning of the nineteenth century it was still generally believed that Genesis 1 could be shown to be in perfect harmony with scientific discoveries,