Religion and Theology

The creation accounts in the book of Genesis, (Gen 11-24a and Gen 24a-35) are two of the most commented accounts in the books of the Pentateuch, and this is for several reasons. One of the reasons is that these accounts are enveloped in the mythological part of the book of Genesis. The mythical aspect of Genesis is said to convey and unconceal religious truths as to how the universe began, where sin is rooted and so on. The first eleven chapters are known to contain the mythical part of Genesis.

The main focus of this paper is to establish (a) parallelism between the two accounts of creation, and (b) a difference on the themes of the accounts.  The two accounts of creation are an indication of the science that the early biblical writers (traditions) had in their time. The people used to explain origin of things by the use of myth. Whybray (1994, p. 29) emphasizes that these accounts have to be regarded as prologue to the Pentateuch. These accounts, as part of the prologue, are not to be taken as actual events that have occurred in the past. Whybray(1994, p. 29)  clearly underlines that these (chapters) can obviously not be based on any record of what actually occurredthat we might actually be dealing with a very different world. These contentions show the science that the traditions were into in having these accounts. This another world is also evident in the longevity of the lives of characters in some of the following chapters after the creation accounts.

But in as much as the themes of these accounts are involved, they are totally different. There are several factors to consider. The first account of creation has been dominated by the P (Priestly) tradition. This account is a brilliant beginning to the Old Testament for it combines the best of Hebrew narrative style with the soaring refrains of a hymn. This is vividly shown in one of the works of Lawrence Broadt (1984, pp. 114-118). This account of P is like a sort of a story which is often told to children, which usually shows the majesty of a powerful Creator that would leave the listeners in awe and wonder. One could notice that in the structure on how the first account has been written consisted of two parts. The first three days are when God the Creator did the separation, that is, he separated each part into each place. Broadt (1984, pp. 114-118) notes that the separation implies a linguistic style which does not have several degrees of comparison, rather it deals with only the extremes. This is evident in the expressions lightfrom darkness, waters above and waters below, dry land and water. Any reader could easily notice the extreme opposites involved in the noted expressions. Light and darkness, above and below, dry land and water (wet land) are opposites.   The next three days, the Creator filled the physical world. Broadt (1984, pp. 114-118) shows hereby a clear picture of the world described  in the P account of creation. The world is therefore seen as flat, it has pillars underneath. Above the ground is a firmament, which looks like a dome, eventually known as heaven. This dome has valves through which waters come down to the ground.

In the P creation narrative, man (woman) is the pinnacle of Gods creation. This would place humankind over and above the other creatures. In Gen. 126-27, God said let us make man in our image and likeness. This is described by Murphy (1996, pp.13-14) as a climactic moment when there seemed to be a consultation with the heavenly court of the sons of God who praised and served him. This is an indicative of monolatry which is hereby differentiated from monotheism. A simple definition of monolatry is the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity. (available at  httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiMonolatrism, accessed April 28, 2010). Man and woman enjoy the privilege of being Gods co-creators. Murphy (1996, p. 13) describes this to be of twofold. It consists of man as the steward of Gods creation, and they are blessed with fertility (cf. Gen.128). In the final analysis, as a summary of this part, Gen. 11-24a portrays an image of God in his nature. Broadt(1984, p. 118) says that this part of Genesis contains an entire portrait of the nature of Yahweh, the God of Israel, over all pagan claims.  In addition to this is the emphasis of the P tradtion on the line and God saw it was good. Carreto (1990, p.15) emphasizes that the creator, not enough for once, had to say it seven times.

Confounding to some readers, the Yahwists hymn of creation (cf. Gen. 24b-25) puts another streak of literary style and formation of a theme. The theme of the J tradition (Yahwist) centers on human beings. Murphy (1996, p. 14)describes that J regards the world to be existing but untilled, so the Lord God forms a male out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life, and thus he became a human being. The second account of creation shows man in his social nature. In the J account, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone so he created animals, but still man was not happy, so he created woman, out of a bone from his side. This may be interpreted to mean man and woman are equal in dignity. But more than that, the J account of creation is seen in Christian theology as a model of marriage. This is made parallel with the relationship of Yahweh and Israel, Jesus and His Church, and in marriage, man and his wife. The relationships are, in an ideal sense, characterized by love and fidelity.

Moreover, for Lawrence Boadt (1984, p.119), the theology of the second account of creation uses all these elements from pagan myths to give a very Israelite message Yahweh God begins creation with the human species and then fashions a world that they cultivate and tend, and makes animals for them to rule over, then establishes marriage and human community of two sexes to complement one another.