Stories of the Beginning

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Here, by a leading Dutch woman biblical theologian who studied under Umberto Eco, is a brilliant new approach to the creation stories in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Contrary to those who believe that our time is seeing the end of the great stories and that only science and the facts count, she argues that storytellers and poets can stand closer to experience and feelings and give expression to something which is equally a given, and that these early chapters of the Bible contain some of the most important stories ever written. First comes a discussion of the accounts of the creation of the world, paradise and the fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood and the building of the Tower of Babel, often shedding quite a new light on familiar material. Then, after some basic reflections, come creation stories of a different kind, from Asia, Australia, America, Africa and Europe, from the Rig Veda and the Enuma Elish through myths and legends to Hesiod's theogony, the Edda and the Kalevala. Finally, there is a discussion of the scientific account of creation and evolution and how it relates to all that has gone before. The book ends with two stories of earth by contemporary Indians from Brazil and North America.