Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church and the Resurgence has made available, via the Resurgence, a great article that attempts to answer common questions about creation. I will provide a few interesting excerpts that will whet your appetite (emphasis mine).
…But with the rise of modern science and evolutionary theory, the Biblical account of creation came under continual attack, which caused some Christians to seek to reconcile science and Scripture. When done rightly, science simply operates by the order God placed in creation and therefore points back to Him so there is no need to bifurcate science and Scripture…
…Lastly, I would like to stress that Genesis was not written with the intention of being a scientific textbook. Rather, it is a theological narrative written to reveal the God of creation which means its emphasis is on God and not creation. Because of this, Hebrews 11:3 says “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”…
…Among Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christians there are at least six primary interpretations of the creation account in Genesis 1:2. Among the elders at Mars Hill we find the first two positions to be the most persuasive biblically. But we would like to stress that our Christian brothers and sisters who hold the other views listed below are welcome at our church. Our only request is that the Christians in our church would not become divisive over this matter and seek to make their view the litmus test for Christian orthodoxy. As Paul says, we only see in part now but one day in Jesus’ presence we will know in full and we will all be in complete agreement on this and other matters.
View #1–Historic Creationism
In this view, Genesis 1:1 records the making of all of creation by God out of nothing (or exnihilo) through a merism of “heavens and earth,” which means the sky above and land below, or the totality of creation. Since the word used for “beginning” in Genesis 1:1 is reshit in Hebrew, which means an indefinite period of time, it is likely that all of creation was completed over an extended period of time (anywhere from days to billions of years). Then Genesis 1:2 begins the description of God preparing the uninhabitable land for the creation of mankind. The preparation of the uncultivated land for and creation of Adam and Eve occurred in six literal twenty-four hour days. This view leaves open the possibility of both an old earth and six literal days of creation.View #2–Creationism
In this view, God created the entire universe, including Adam and Eve, in six literal twenty-four hour days. This view is almost always accompanied with a belief in a young earth as it seeks to be faithful to the Biblical text while not giving much credence to the scientific claims of such things as an old earth.…Therefore, as Christians we are free to explore all areas of study, including science. But when the findings of any discipline stand in contradiction to the clear teachings of Scripture, we must side with Scripture because it is our source of highest authority…
There is much, much more to this article, including a description of the other four interpretations of Genesis 1-2 and a discussion of Intelligent Design.