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I really enjoyed exploring the take of Adam and Eve being figurative story about the transition from childhood to adulthood. It makes perfect sense to me. We see so much metaphorical writing in the Bible, with stories like Jonah that are also outlandish to the modern mind, which make this story seem manufactured to tell humans a story. I also don’t think that this new meaning nullifies the creation story aspect of it either as double entendres exist for a reason, to make you think. I think there are things to learn for humans both ways you perceive it.

In regards to the Pentateuch and its writers, I think there is no way that it is not multiple writers. All the inconsistencies in the writing styles proves that it wasn’t Moses solely. There is no real reason for Moses to have this inconsistencies, that he must’ve consciously chosen to make. Even if at one point in time Moses did “write” all the stories, there was most certainly somethings that were lost in translation as the Pentateuch was formed after his death. Therefore even if it did originate from his mind it has been warped into something else, shown by the inconsistencies in his writing.

In the Enuma Elish, one of the first things that stuck out to me was all of the different people to keep track of.  Knowing the creation story for as long as I can remember, this story had me a little confused.  I had to continually read and reread to try and better understand it, and to be honest, a lot of it still isn’t super clear.  However, when reading the creation story I have known for so long, I put myself in the shoes of never reading it before to see how my perspective changed (if at all).  I found it so much easier to understand and follow along with.  I thought it was interesting how the Enuma Elish reminded me of Greek mythology.

In Christine Hayes Lecture, I thought it was interesting that Genesis 1 doesn’t literally mean that God created everything from nothing.  Particularly in the first verse, often times we take it literally.  When we are taught the creation story, we are often told that everything was created by God at the beginning of time.  However, when you take a look at the Hebrew, it talks about when God created everything.  This difference of creation at the beginning of time vs. using creation as a benchmark in time is very interesting to me.  The timeline thought never really occurred to me.  I also remember talking about how the story of Adam and Eve was just placed after creation because it made the most sense chronologically, but before taking this course I never really thought of the two stories as independent of each other. The discussions have really allowed me to dig deeper into the scriptures, and I really enjoy thinking through things from a different perspective.

In class we had an interesting discussion on the differences and similarities of the beginning Chapters of Genesis.  It was interesting to see that some words were translated differently between the two translations, however some key phrases didn’t vary.  We discussed how this could be a sign that there is little room for variance in meaning.  It seemed that the emphasis was put on the differences however, because the translations seemed to be a little controversial.  I also thought it was interesting thinking about how many different genres are actually present in the bible.  The thought never really occurred to me that any of it could be fiction, especially because its what I have been taught to be The Word since I can remember.

In the reading of “Valiant Or Virtuous,” they go into detail of how the same word can be translated to mean two different things when used in the context of male vs. female.  I thought that this was very interesting.  My initial thought was that there is some gender biases, however it is made clear that there aren’t any; it was simply a translation difference in Greek.  Despite this only being a small difference, I think that some of the other differences between translations simply come down to different people can interpret and translate one word to mean different things.  I found this article to be helpful in understanding why there may be discrepancies between different translations of the Bible.

I found this lecture especially interesting. I have explored the discrepancies in the creation stories in the past very topically but I enjoyed learning about it deeper. The part that interested me the most was looking at the order that God made everything. I think the sequence of his creation is one that can be expanded upon a hundred fold. The most interesting ordering is that he made the sky, seas, and solid ground before the heavenly bodies. When we look at the Big Bang Theory we think of Earth as being not particularly special and late in the game, as to where this prioritizes Earth over everything else. This also gets back into the talking point of what scientifically happens vs the maybe stories, maybe not stories that are told in the Bible to show humans a lesson. Whenever we talk about this in class I tend to think about my Uncle that is a Professor of microbiology and his adamant position against religion and how if you know science, you wouldn’t practice religion.
Another thing that interested me during the lecture was the concept that God had to create space in order to fill it with things like Earth. This concept is beyond confusing to think about there being such thing as no space and the extent of Gods power. It puts it into perspective of his unlimited power really.

The reading assigned for Thursday taught me something new because I had not known beforehand that there are 2 different accounts for the flood story. I picked up mostly on the differences between the birds. This is interesting because before I would have thought of the bird part to not be that important, but now seeing the different accounts makes me question. I also had not known that Noah was given eternal life beforehand and that everyone is a descendant of him so he lives on. I’m really shocked that I had never heard of this before, but it makes sense.

The discussions in class surrounding Adam and Eve also taught me a lot. First, Dr. McGrath blew my mind that Adam is not a real name, but rather the word for human-being in Hebrew. Knowing this makes me read the creation story in a new light. I also had never made the connection that Adam and Eve are making the transition from childhood to adulthood. The shame of nakedness makes a lot more sense now. Dr. McGrath asked when we think we began realizing our nakedness, and I answered around 1. My thinking behind my answer is my nephew. He recently turned 1, but definitely knows when he is naked and when he has clothes on. Most of the time he prefers to be naked!

Lastly, the discussion surrounding the disobedient act was interesting. A classmate brought up the important fact that action is required, this action being the taking of the fruit of course. This comment made me realize that temptation is also required. If the fruit was something that Adam or Eve didn’t want than the story might have turned out differently.

In our class discussion today, it was interesting to interpret Genesis 1 through 3 by replacing the forbidden fruit with a big red button that says, “Don’t Push.” I think that was an excellent way to place the creation stories in Genesis in a modern context. Adam and Eve were explicitly told not to touch the fruit, but they chose to do so anyway. Those who raised their admitting they would press the big red button (me included) show the same decision to question authority as Adam and Eve.

The video of Dexter Callender’s explanation on Genesis 6 through 11 and Gilgamesh was somewhat enlightening that there were two different accounts of a great flood. Both perspectives read very similarly in respect to each story sending out birds to scout the earth for dry land. Doves and ravens were sent out in both accounts which is an odd coincidence itself, but was interesting to me was that Dexter Callender proposed that Noah was granted eternal life by God to complete the Ark and harbor all living creatures during the flood. It never had occurred to me to question why Noah lived to be 950, but it’s a nice explanation to how Noah lived to such an old age in this fable.

Today in class we talked about Genesis 2 and 3 and the story of Adam and Eve. This class discussion was very interesting as we had once again talked about the “forbidden fruit” and mans desire to question authority.  We talked about the fruit as a big red button and that is exactly what it was. It was something Adam and Ever were specifically told not to touch but did so anyways. Being honest I would do specifically what my parents told me not to do because I knew what was best for myself and it was whatever they were keeping me away from.  However I did not sin in doing so. God realized that they made a mistake. God is all knowing, wise, and powerful he realized that humans weren’t perfect and realized this flaw should not be corrected as it teaches us a lesson the vast majority of the times we question our authority.

In Genesis 6-11 there are 2 different flood sties and the video with Dexter Callender describes the differences well and the reading definitely shows it. Dexter brings up the idea of myth within the bible. He mentions that it is in the flood story that we hear of this. It is because the two of every animal and all man coming from Noah, He mentions Noahs eternal life and the birds. The thing that also throws people off is it raining for forty days and nights causing the flood. I find it very interesting how there are obvious differences told within the same story. This might lead one to believe it to be hear say. I am not sure how these stories have been so altered or where the two stories got woven together but it makes it clear that somethings might have been lost over time or even added for flare of the story.

The chapter’s first four pericopes indicate to us that mankind establishes itself as a unified race which has migrated and constructed huge buildings in the land along the Tigris and Euphrates. The Tower of Babel is mankind’s attempt to strive beyond our reach and ability granted to us by God, “as if striving to fortify themselves against God,” according to St. Augustine. Man has a natural tendency to beat the curve, to constantly excel at harnessing creation for our benefit, God then acknowledges our great ability by causing us to develop different languages. This comes at our expense however, we are unable to unify ourselves, and thus unable to sin/rise against God as a people. This individualizes our sin, causing us to be completely alone according to our sins, repentance happens on a collective level.

Nimrod is the founder of Babylon, he fashions it to be one of the most prosperous nations in the history of man until that point. As a culture, they develop a deep sense of pride for their creations and this pride manifests into sin. Man starts to dominate nature to such an extent that they have no other force to rebel against other than God. This transpires into the formation of the Tower, man takes the kingdom of heaven by force. “Let Us go down” an allusion to the Trinity according to St. Augustine implies to us that God now descends upon man to keep us confined within the Universe. God causes us to speak in different tongues, he adds complexity and structure to our lives, this leaves humanity to be permanently separated.

The book of Genesis is one of my favorite books in the entire bible, it shows us the place God has dominion over, our roll in it, and the natural laws which we rely on to traverse the universe. It isn’t a history or a science textbook, it is a religious text and should be read with spiritual intent. It outlines how God has formulated the soul of man, how men and women ought to interact with each other, and to work together amongst creation. Genesis also articulates to us what laws and concepts God transcends, also trinitarian theology is expressed.

One thing I find to be exceedingly interesting is the fact that biblical Creation is not a procreative act as with the Babylonian stories. This I believe to be a prophetic nuance which runs parallel to the virgin birth of Christ. In Genesis, God is solo in the act of creation (Unlike having both Apsu and Tiamat), He is what some would call “Ontologically independent” that is, to be responsible for giving meaning and importance to the Universe. Without Him the Universe holds no inherent value and we are entirely reliant on His existence. It may seem that we are naked/alone but out of true love for us, God provides us the gift of freedom of will and the ability to understand that when on our own, values are superficial and will slowly decay without God’s intervention. This decay is the constant erosion of mankind’s purity through temptation from Satan, an umbrella term used to anthropomorphize the manifestation of evil.

There were many things that stuck out to me during our discussion of creation stories, including Genesis, Enuma Elish, and the Epic of Gilgamesh as discussed by Christine Hays in Lecture 4: Doublets and Contradictions, Seams and Sources. Specifically, the stories of Genesis and Enuma Elish have very contrasting ways that the world came about. In Enuma Elish, many different gods clashed with each other in battle and combat. In Genesis, there is only one character, one god, in the beginning, which points to the monotheistic way of Christianity and Judaism.

Talking about the “genre” of the Genesis creation stories also made me think quite a bit. There are a few different repetitions used which give the stories almost a poetic structure—for example, “And God said”, “And God saw that it was good”, and “—the (blank) day.” Personally, this poetic and lyrical expression of the story causes me to think that it’s not meant to be taken literally, which is something that has been up for debate among many people. What is a “day” in this story? Is it a literal 24 hour day, or rather a representation of something else? This is a topic that I’ve thought about personally for a long time, ever since my visit to the Creation Museum in Kentucky a few years ago, which I remember was mentioned in class.