Noah and His Ark

Not long ago, in our parish's Wednesday Bible Study, we spent a few sessions reading and discussing the story of Noah, his family, and the flood found in Genesis 6-10. Predictably and understandably, whenever the subject of Noah comes up, someone asks, "Did the flood really happen? Was Noah a real person, or is story of the flood just a story?"

These are good questions and deserve thoughtful answers. I usually respond by referring first to what Pope Benedict XVI has said about our approach to Sacred Scripture. Benedict encourages us to read Sacred Scripture in light of the faith and the Church’s living tradition, to read the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, as a unified whole. The Bible, then, is a single book about Christ. If we read it from this perspective, it tells one unified story, a history of salvation that unfolds as a series of covenants: with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and, finally, the New Covenant proclaimed by Jesus at the last supper. This history has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, who inspired all those who wrote the books of the Bible.

With this in mind, then, I respond by saying, "Yes, Noah was a real person." God doesn't make covenants with fictional characters. Was there really a flood? Yes, I believe there was, although it might not have covered the entire earth. It would be enough if it covered the world as Noah envisioned it. 

But the important part of the story of Noah and the flood is not its simple historical fact. Indeed, as St. Augustine wrote, 

"No one ought to imagine that this account was written for no purpose, or that we are to look here solely for a reliable historical record without any allegorical meaning." 

The questions we should be asking, then, relate not to the historical facts of the story, but to God's purpose. Why did He include the story in Sacred Scripture?

From the beginning the Church has understood Noah to be a type of Jesus Christ who brings salvation to a sinful world. In the same way the ark foreshadows the Church, the vehicle of salvation. Scripture and the whole of Sacred Tradition give life to and support the mission of the Church, the ark, the refuge of salvation. These and many other spiritual interpretations of the story of Noah and the flood are far more helpful to us on our earthly pilgrimage than are the bare historical facts. But I am drifting away from my original purpose today, which is to address some recent discoveries that relate to those historical facts.

A replica of Noah's Ark, based on the Biblical description (Gn 6:14-16)

I came across a 2012 ABC News story in which Christiane Amanpour interviewed Dr. Robert Ballard, the renowned oceanographer and marine archaeologist. Ballard is perhaps most famous for his discoveries of RMS Titanic and the German Battleship Bismarck. I had the pleasure of meeting him once, years ago, when I gave a talk at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod. It was one of those very brief, nice-to-meet-ya meetings.

US Government (NOAA) Depiction

Anyway, it seems Ballard has been seriously studying the idea that there may have been a major, catastrophic flood -- the "mother of all floods" he suggested -- in the area of the Black Sea about 5,000 B.C. This theory had been advanced by two scientists at Columbia University who theorized that the melting of Ice Age glaciers caused the waters of the Mediterranean Sea to rise. This in turn generated a huge wall of water, estimated at 200 times the size of  Niagara Falls, that might well have inundated everything in its path as it roared into the Black Sea. At that time the Black Sea was a large fresh water lake, cut off from the Mediterranean.

Intrigued by this theory, Ballard and his team of underwater archaeologists went to the Black Sea and under its surface -- 400 feet under its surface! -- they discovered an ancient shoreline. Carbon dating of samples led to an estimate of 5,000 B.C. According to Ballard, "At some magic moment, it broke through and flooded this place violently, and a lot of real estate, 150,000 square kilometers of land, went under." 

Interesting stuff. You can read more at the National Geographic and ABC News websites:

National Geographic: Ballard, Noah and the Black Sea

ABC News: Interview with Robert Ballard

Noah's Ark??

It seems some folks are absolutely certain that they've located Noah's Ark, or what's left of it, on Mt. Ararat in the Aras Mountains in modern day Turkey. Okay, they're pretty sure they've found it...well, maybe, sorta, could be...

The people who made the "discovery" consist of a team of Turkish and Chinese explorers -- and interesting combination in itself -- operating under the organizational auspices of Noah's Ark Ministries International Limited. You can check out their website at Noah's Ark Search. It includes some neat videos taken during the expedition.

The team claims it located some large chunks of ancient wood at about the 12,000-foot level of the mountain and that the wood has been dated to 4,800 years old. They reportedly found and entered a wooden ship-like structure embedded in the mountain's ice. As you might expect, other explorers who have been searching for the ark for years doubt the conclusions and suggest that it's all the result of an elaborate hoax. And so the whole thing has boiled over into a delicious controversy among all these different ark-searchers. You can read about the controversy here. Each, of course, wants to be the first to find the ancient craft.

A view of the "ark's" interior

Personally, I can't see how one could positively attribute any large wood fragments, even those found on top of Mt. Ararat, to Noah's Biblical ship. I don't believe they found a "Noah was here" inscription carved into the wood. But, then again, the story of Noah's ark eventually settling on top of a mountain is unique in ancient literature. So what else could it be? The remains of an ancient ski resort? If the wood and the structure are ultimately confirmed to be legitimate by a reputable third party, it will be interesting to see what kind of alternatives to Noah are suggested by the scientific community.

I know they're all very sincere, but I think these ark-searchers could be spending their time more productively on other pursuits. For example, Dr. John D. Morris, one of the ark-searchers who doubts the authenticity of the find, is President of Dallas’ Institute for Creation Research and a fundamentalist Christian who led 13 expeditions to Mt. Ararat between 1971 and 1990. Can you think of anyone else who has made more unsuccessful exploratory trips for any other purpose?

Anyway, it's all very interesting, if a bit strange, that so many people seem to need to find the ark to confirm their belief in the truth of Scripture. I'm a little surprised they're not trekking through Iraq looking for the Garden of Eden. One would hope their faith is not dependent on such physical evidence.

I certainly don't believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ because I also believe in the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. I see the Shroud simply as a nice gift left behind by Our Lord, not as the source of my faith. How does that old hymn go? "We walk by faith and not by sight..."