Readers who love to delve and checked out my recent claims on Genesis will be interested in an email received today about ancient cosmologies. Theologian T.E. Hanna is examining the religio-cultural influences of the ancient ‘cradle’ of civilisation upon the Hebrews and the Bible’s origin. He blogs,

A RECURRING criticism of the creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2 point to the overwhelming similiarities between them and the surrounding cultural myths of the Ancient Near East.

In Rethinking Genesis, T.E. briefly refers to historians’ claims of Moses appropriating Mesopotamian and Egyptian creation myths for writing Genesis. I agree with his line of reasoning in asking if the purpose of the opening chapters of Genesis is to teach not about earth and humanity, but about God?

This argument is made in a research paper available to readers of his blog. He argues that, rather than adopting the mythologies of the surrounding ancient East, the Hebrew cosmologies were written as a criticism of them. As theological education for an emerging Israelite nation, the purpose of these narratives was to emphasize the nature of the God of Israel in contrast to the surrounding polytheism, while also conveying His superiority over competing religions.

If you love to delve then visit Of Dust and Kings, read what he and his readers say and, if interested, consider downloading the PDF of The Cosmology of Genesis 1.

Also, please read discussion with TE Hanna in Thoughts on ‘Rethinking Genesis’ >>