Weekly Study Questions 1

Those readers who have attended Bible college or seminary will likely have used a New Testament or Old Testament introduction. Such books provide a survey of each book of the Bible, considering questions of date, authorship, occasion for writing, an outline and overview of the contents, and so forth. Such works, which are frequently academic in nature, typically give significant space to technical matters related to critical theories regarding date and authorship.

Genesis 1-3 contains the creation story, so the origin of the earth. Describing events before human existence it cannot be a report of historical events. By definition, the creation story is a myth, as its topic is “beyond anyone’s experience or total understanding” (Ralph & Walters, 2001). To fully understand the story, one must consider the ancient context of the time Genesis was written. Documented after the Babylonian exile, the first creation story aims to re-establish the beliefs of the Israelites. While being held captive in Babylon, Judahites were confronted with beliefs opposing to their own. For instance, Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story, displays the faith in a good spirit, but bad matter. On the contrary, Israelites believed in the goodness of all. Furthermore, Babylonians assumed that humans were, at their core, not good. Genesis was therefore written as a contrast to Enuma Elish, emphasising and reaffirming the Israelites’ believe of humans being good, because they were created in the image of God (Ralph & Walters, 2001). A fundamentalist point of view does not take the beliefs of the time into account. It is impossible to fully appreciate the distinct theology of Genesis without considering Enuma Elish and other ancient narratives. Another major distinction between a fundamentalist and contextualist interpretation of the first creation story is how the cultural setting of the author determines the narrative. Contextualists correctly understand that the origin of Sabbath is due to the workweek structure of the author’s society. Contrasting, fundamentalists presume that because the story presents God’s point of view, Sabbath must originate from God resting on the seventh day. Misinterpreting these details leads to misunderstanding the relationship between God and humans. God had to work through human authors to pass on knowledge and insight

The book of genesis in the bible is where its considered to be the noted beginning of the world. The article “the bible is fiction: A Collection of Evidence” written by Daniel Miessler shows that there are those who feel otherwise. The book of genesis’s flood story is said to have been a copycat of the Epic of

When one approaches the biblical text, it is important to explore the cultural context in which the text occurs. With regard to the Book of Genesis, it is important to examine the writing with other contemporary works of similar geography and topics. The people of ancient Mesopotamia, where the oldest civilizations originated, produced a number of stories of creation and natural occurrences. It is important to note that many of the stories of the Sumerians, Akkadians and Hebrews began as oral traditions as the events they depict predate writing, so it is difficult to date these works on the basis of when these prehistoric myths were initiated. Comparison to writings contemporary to the people of Israel, can offer a deeper understanding of

The reason why I chose these events outlined above, were I think they are the most significant. From Genesis 1 to 6 you get a sense of God

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.

In the article, Genesis book of, describes how potential controversial indication that is found by the academic scholars about the source and thoughtful of the genesis book. The academic scholars talks more about the different categories of potential controversial within the genesis book such as text, sources, narratives, the patriarchs and the history, etc. These details however can be controversial to conventional and traditional supporters that have been powerfully believe in the earliest explanations of the origins of the bible.

The debate about the age of the Earth has persisted for centuries! Some scientists try to disprove Christians and some Christians try to disprove scientific evidence. Nevertheless, there is a surprising number of Christians and scientists who have worked together to give their opinion about the age of the Earth by using both Biblical and scientific facts. The purpose of this essay is to succinctly describe both Old Earth and Young Earth viewpoints. My opinion about the matter will follow, in which I will provide Biblical evidence to support my claims.

In order to better illustrate this, the scriptures will be color coded to indicate which group of authors wrote specific verses. There is for example several times where up to three different authors that contributed to just one chapter as well as two authors contributing to just one verse. The scriptures used to illustrate Documentary Hypothesis are from the Septuagint - 1998 Translated Version, Masoretic Text - Jewish Publishing Society 1917 Version, Orthodox Jewish Bible - 2002 Translated Version and the King James Bible - 1611 Version. Panbabylonism explains how the influence from the civilizations and cultures of Mesopotamia affected the development of the Old Testament. Written in the Old Testament are stories such as the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Moses and the Ten Commandments. All of these came from Mesopotamian mythologies such as the Enuma Elish, the Eridu Genesis, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Epic of Atra-Hasis and Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta that similar content or parallel story lines. When applicable, comparisons between the stories from the Old Testament and Panbabylonism are placed in a side by side comparison such as the Creation story from the Old Testament and the Sumerian creation myth called Enuma Elish or the story of Noah and the Flood when put next to the Epic

Purpose of Writing: The Book of Genesis has sometimes been called the "seed-plot" of the entire Bible. Most of the major doctrines in the Bible are introduced in "seed" form in the Book of Genesis. Along with the fall of man, God's promise of salvation or redemption is recorded (Genesis 3:15). The doctrines of creation, imputation of sin, justification, atonement, depravity, wrath, grace, sovereignty, responsibility, and many more are all addressed in this book of origins called Genesis. Many of the great questions of life are answered in Genesis. (1) Where did I come from? (God created us - Genesis 1:1) (2) Why am I here? (We are here to have a relationship with God - Genesis 15:6) (3) Where am I going? (We have a destination after death - Genesis 25:8). Genesis appeals to the scientist, the historian, the theologian, the

The Genesis Chapter 1 story involves a seven-day process on how the world was created. The following order

Morris, Henry M. The Genesis Record, A scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1976.

This presentation is about the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Its main purpose will be to educate you, the audience on hermeneutics, the literal and contextual interpretations of the creation story, as well as the history, author, date and importance of the book of Genesis.

Supporters of the Documentary Hypothesis draw on quite a few sources as evidence. Firstly, they argue that the use of divine names. The Elohist document refers to God as “Elohim”, while Jahwist refers to God as “Jehovah”. It is argued that this inconsistency signals that Genesis 1 and 2 were written at two different times by two different groups of people. The next argument is the proposed continuous narration in the J document and E document. The fact that these documents can stand alone as their own pieces of literature has the potential to negate the idea that the books were written during the same period, let alone by the same person. The parallel passages also offer a higher critical argument for the Documentary Hypothesis. The “doublet” account of Creation traces Genesis 1 to the Priestly source during or after the Exile and Genesis 2 to the Jahwist source of the 9th century. While the passages seem to be describing the same story, the inconstancies create a problem for single authorship. The lack of continuity in literary style of the Pentateuch also offers evidence for the division into documents. Each document seems to carry its own traits and characteristics that define it from another document. For example, the J document features a much more active God in the Creation story. The E document, alternatively, has a more transcendent quality in how it depicts God’s role in the Creation. The differences in style offer no support that a single author was responsible for

The book of Genesis forms part of a series of ‘historical’ books that begins with the creation story and ends with the destruction of the kingdom of Judah (6BCE.) These narrated events are in a chronological sequence (Barton 2001:38).It is the first book of the Old Testament and Pentateuch (Barton 2001:12) . Jews name these five books the Torah or ‘the law’(Holdsworth 2005:71). The passage(Gen22:1-19) reveals God’s relationship through a trial with a major character, Abraham. Key themes that are central to the Pentateuch lie within the passage; the sovereignty and grace of God; sacrifice and obedience; the establishment and reaffirming of covenants and the redeeming nature of God. What lies before and after