quote:
jar said:
One key thing is that Genesis was not written by one person whether it was Moses or anyone else. Instead, it is an anthology of many independent and sometimes mutually exclusive stories. For example, Genesis 1 & 2 tell two completely different stories.
to which jasonChin responded:
That's not true.
Jason, it might have been better if you had said "I don't believe that is true. I believe that all of Genesis was written by one man."
That would be a better statement of your position.
However, almost every major Christian religion believes that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were written by two different authors from two different traditions from two different eras. Gensis 2 is and older tale while Genesis 1 is from a much later period.
Here is what Bishop Sims of the Episcopal Church Atlanta Diocese said related to the accounts in Genesis 1&2:
But even here the distinction between religion and science is clear. In Genesis there is not one creation statement but two. They agree as to why and who, but are quite different as to how and when. The statements are set forth in tandem, chapter one of Genesis using one description of method and chapter two another. According to the first, humanity was created, male and female, after the creation of plants and animals. According to the second, man was created first, then the trees, the animals and finally the woman and not from the earth as in the first account, but from the rib of the man. Textual research shows that these two accounts are from two distinct eras, the first later in history, the second earlier. emphasis added
So the issue of who wrote Genesis is certainly open to discussion. The majority of the evidence today is that there were multiple sources from multiple periods with very different theologies.
But to move back towards the topic, Judaism, like Christianity, is a composite, adoptive religion. It adopted and modified tales and stories from the religions that preceeded it, taking their tales and beliefs and incorporating them with a Judaic slant.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
™ Version 4.2
