Is the Creation account a Historical or Theological message?

A friend of mine in college used this question respond to people who asked how to reconcile science and the creation account found in Genesis. I think the answer he hoped to hear in response was that the creation account was meant to be primarily a theological teaching. 


If he were to ask me this question again I think I would respond in the following way:


Friend: "Is the creation account a historical or theological message?"
Me: "What is the purpose of studying history - the end goal of the exercise?" 


I have heard it said that, "You can't know who you are until you know where your from." History tells us where we are from. But why do we need to know who we are? Every living and breathing person longs to know themselves. The only reason that this means anything is that each person believes that he/she has true value. 


But where does that value come from? We know from the secular humanist that they have failed to find and retain a source of meaning by beginning from themselves. This should not surprise us because just like in modern economics where a currency's monetary value rests purely on public confidence in that currency system --- so too, human value cannot securely rest on confidence originating from humankind. This value has to be inherited from somewhere else - as a monotheist I believe that this somewhere is really a someone. 


Getting back to our original question, the study of that 'someone' is called Theology. Therefore the reason for historical inquiry within the monotheistic world view is theology. 


Finally, the answer to the question: 'Is the creation account a Historical or Theological message?' is 'yes.'