The Book of Genesis, part 1: God created

Genesis 1 and 2 must be among the most hotly debated texts in the Bible. But our obsession with whether and how they can be reconciled with scientific descriptions of the beginning of the universe is distorting our understanding of where these "creation narratives" fit into the wider concerns of the Book of Genesis. In its printed form, Genesis has 50 chapters, only one and a bit of which directly concern the origins of the universe. They are there to set the scene for what follows. Genesis is, from beginning to end, a theological book. It opens with God, "the beginning", and everything that follows is based on this assumption of the relationship between God and the world. Genesis isn't the only place in the Bible where God is described as the creator. So Genesis isn't just stating what it sees to be the facts: it is making theological points. The contrast with Genesis is striking. Atrahasis: bibliotecapleyades.net (in the translation by Stephanie Dalley, see Tablet 1)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/13/book-genesis-god-created

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Why do we have creation myths? The other week, the New Scientist published a lengthy report about an Amazonian tribe called the Piraha. They are, it is believed, unique: they have virtually no notion of time, little oral history, almost no art, and the simplest kinship system known. They are also believed to be the only society with no creation myth. But why are there not more like them?

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