The Influences on Genesis

You are right in determining that without the creation narratives in Genesis, humanity’s worldview would be distorted. Without the inclusion of both the Priestly and Yahwist accounts of creation, it would be easy to justify the injustices of the past. Other ancient myths attribute humanity’s creation as a by-product of a violent altercation between gods. Thus, humanity’s worldview prior to the Genesis creation accounts is influenced by the idea of divine servitude to their creators. In contrast, the creation narratives in Genesis detail the process of creation differently. The Priestly narrative recounts the “goodness” of man’s creation; the Yahwist account describes man’s earthly purpose. These narratives emphasize mankind’s autonomous cooperation

Creation stories are symbolic accounts of how the world and its inhabitants came about. These stories first developed in oral traditions, so there are multiple accounts of them from different cultures and societies. The Babylonian Creation story, the Genesis Creation story, and the Sumerian story of the Creation of Enkidu are examples of these and the similarities are interesting. As Dennis Bratcher states, “Because of many parallels with the Genesis account, some historians concluded that the Genesis account was simply a rewriting of the Babylonian Story. As a reaction, many who wanted to maintain the uniqueness of the Bible argues either that there were no real parallels between the accounts or that the Genesis narratives were

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew by a series of many authors around the time of 1450-1410 BC (Holy Bible, Scofield). Moses who wrote Genesis, supposedly received direct information from God himself about how the world and man were created. This is the first point of interpretation because there is a need to have blind faith in Moses. There are many stories in Genesis that seem absurd and hard to believe really happened, unless you are someone who believes in the power of God and has this blind faith. For example, God gives Adam and Eve a garden and says not to take the fruit from one tree and when they eat the fruit from that tree, God punishes them, “Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (1:17, Gen). From a figurative standpoint we can

Often a topic of debate, there are several different takes on the creation story existent in literature. Dependent on one’s religion, different beliefs about how the world we live in was created may arise. Looking deeper into the literature, one will realize there are also many similarities between creation stories. Based on the strong possibility that Genesis was influenced by the Enuma Elish, there are similarities that stem from the fact that they both describe the creation of a new world as well as differences in their interpretations and approaches to creationism.

In Genesis, the first book of The Bible the Christian and Jewish creation story is told. God spoke and his Word was done. He made the heavens and the earth. He made light and drove away the dark. On the earth he created the waters and lands and man and beast.

The Drama of Scripture written by Bartholomew and Goheen takes the reader on a journey through the entire Bible in six short “acts.” The first Act discusses creation and the establishment of God’s Kingdom. In the beginning was complete darkness. Then, God created light and divided the heavens and the earth. He then split the waters and the seas, creating dry ground on which the rest of creation could walk. He proceeded to make plants and flowers and the sun, moon, and stars. He created days and seasons and animals of all shapes and sizes. And then, to add the finishing touch, God created men and women, male and female, He created them. The book states that “the Genesis story is given so that we might have a true understanding of the world in which we live, its divine author, and our own place in it” (Bartholomew, 29). Genesis 1-3, the story of Creation, is prevalent because it introduces the author of creation, humanity, and the creation upon which humanity’s drama unfolds.

It is important to point out in a discussion of the creation of the world, that there is no distinction of the author regarding the historicity of this versus other parts of the Bible. Saying that, Genesis does not imply that the entire universe is created at once. Without Genesis, we would never fully understand the creation of the world.

In this paper I will critically evaluate the article “Genesis 1 and Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths,” written by the scholar Gordon H. Johnston. In his article, Johnston builds upon the conclusions that A. H. Sayce and A. S. Yahuda reached about the comparisons of Genesis 1 and Egyptian creation myths (Johnston 179-180). He noted these earlier analyses were overlooked and not accepted due to various reasons; easily accessible Mesopotamian materials, the assumption that Genesis 1 should be classified as a Priest source, ignorance of the Hebrew Bibles’ Egyptian origins, and mistaken Egyptian terminology when analyzing creation ideas (Johnston 179). Johnston postulates there are undoubtedly evident similarities and relations between the two creation

While reading Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, topics about the world and how it was created are discussed. According to Genesis, Earth along with all creation was created in just 7 days, each day corresponding to a new creation (for instance, day 1 God created water). However, in Genesis 2, creation is discussed very nonchalantly and not seeming so step by step compared to Genesis 1. Although there are clear similarities between the two, there are but also many differences. The first major difference between Genesis 1 and 2 is found on the first two pages.

All cultures have different stories on how the earth began. Early cultures needed an explanation for how things were created and why things were the way they are. The Greek and Genesis both have different ways that they expressed how the earth began, they also share a lot of similarities. The Greek and Hebrew cultures both have very straight forward similarities. In genesis it stated that “the earth was formless and empty darkness was over the surface” (Genesis).

​All cultures across the world have different myths meant to explain the way in which everything was created. Members of the cultures, therefore, come up with their creation stories that tend to describe the creation of mankind, as well as the things around them. Additionally, through the use of relevant themes, the stories are told in a way that explains mysterious phenomena in the society, provide lessons to listeners and emphasize life aspects that each society finds important. As a result, myths such as the Iroquois and the Biblical creation stories, though extremely different, contain specific themes that, to some extent, show particular similarities. ​The creation story, as stated in the book of Genesis (Bible), explains that God created

The Bible begins with a story of creation, but not just one, two creations stories are existent. In each story God is there to bring creation and give understanding in the differences between divine and unholy. The bible’s first two chapters are the creation stories found in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. From Gods spirit came creation and from his word came the creation on earth. In each story there are major differences but they also have great similarities.

Lawrence Boadt states that the book of Genesis was “collected from many different traditions.” whereas David Clines states that Genesis is one of the narrative books, which makes a point that it is a book that belongs to the oral tradition. The Eerdmans Commentary points to the J author source as a narrative source. (27, Eerdmans)

Since at least since 1887, Egyptian influences have been noted in the first two chapters of Genesis. In that year, A.H. Sayce, in his Hibbert Lectures I, lamented that scholars were giving greater attention to “Enuma Elish” than to Egyptian sources. By 1905, Hugo Gressman found elements of Israelite religion being influenced by Egyptian sources. In the 1930’s, Abraham Shalom Yahuda claimed there to be parallels between Genesis 1 and Egyptian cosmogonies. Yet, even to this day little serious thought has been given to Egyptian influences on the Old Testament as a whole.

In the Genesis creation story, taking the content into account is crucial part in attempting to understand the Scripture. The creation story of the Bible was written in response to the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon, a place where they had their beliefs tested. As result the Scripture Genesis told in the style of a myth holds ,stimulatory to the Babylon creation story, Enuma Elish. In the Babylonian creation story Enuma Elish, humans are created out of the blood of the fallen god Kingu (Brinkman, 2003 ). Thus people were not produced by an adoring God but rather a consequence of a fight. Compared to the Genesis creation story, where humans are created from a loving God and in His image. Although there is one concept that both creation stories have in common. That, all of man in Enuma Elish story was created from blood, while Eve in the Genesis creation story was created out of Adams rib. Both have a powerful being, creating life out of another being. Another element both of these creation stories share is the type of literally context style, that is the creation stories are told in the form of a myth. As is explained by Ralph