Recent years have seen a remarkable surge in interest in the book of Genesis - the first book of the Bible. This text aims to offer a complete and accessible overview of Genesis, from literary, theological, and historical standpoints.

Recent years have seen a remarkable surge in interest in the book of Genesis - the first book of the Bible. This text aims to offer a complete and accessible overview of Genesis, from literary, theological, and historical standpoints.

Today's evangelical community faces a multitude of questions about the creation of the cosmos and the beginning of human history, and we look to the Bible for answers. But what do we do with the stories that the book of Genesis presents to us? Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation brings together the voices of five prominent evangelical scholars who take on the difficult interpretive questions that arise from reading the Bible's first two chapters. Richard Averbeck, Todd Beall, John Collins, Tremper Longman, and John Walton offer their perspectives in a point-counterpoint style. Reviewing and responding to each other's work, they write to honor their fellow thinkers even while they note their differences. United by their dedication to the truth while diverse in their approaches to the text, these scholars present their arguments and address their disagreements with courtesy and sophistication. Drawing on a wealth of theological, linguistic, and historical expertise, this collection is characterized by a close attention to the biblical text and a mutual respect that are often sorely lacking in discussions of origins taking place throughout the evangelical world. Book jacket.

The style of the Hebrew Bible has long been of significant interest to scholars and exegetes alike. Early Jewish and later Christian commentaries point out the importance of the exact wording in interpreting the text, and many an article has been written on features such as repetition and inclusio. With the rise of literary and narrative criticism in biblical studies, these features have received even more attention. The current book stands in the tradition of Robert Alter in that it focuses on how the text of Genesis is written and phrased. More explicitly, it is interested in why Genesis is formulated the way it is and how this affects the reader in his/her encounter with the text. Doubling and Duplicating is not only concerned with a style-as-analysis frame for interpreters but also with its role as a guide for any audience and its gateway to the ancient mind-set (ideological, ontological, and so on). All of the contributors to this collected volume focus on the form of the book of Genesis—that is, on its use of language and formulation. Yet, each author does this in his/her own way, depending on the most fitting tool for the specific research question or based on the researcher’s methodological background. Thus, the essays represent the various approaches in current literary and stylistic criticism as applied to the biblical corpus. Furthermore, the recurring duality of the features discussed in each of the contributions adds to the overall unity of the volume. This recurrence suggests the presence of a stylistic feature in the book of Genesis, the feature of doubling and duplicating, that surpasses the other features of the individual units or stories. This book offers insights about meaning-making on both the micro- and the macro-text levels.

Eavesdrop on a debate between a Christian elder and young agnostic as they pore over the first book of the Holy Bible. Genesis: Biblical Commentary Through Dialogue examines the Judeo-Christian origin stories through the eyes of a critic and an apologetic alike, finding common ground to derive lessons from the ancient tales. Grab yourself a bowl of popcorn as these two generations duke it out in a serious philosophical approach to Scripture with a humorous twist.

Drawing on the latest in Genesis scholarship, this volume offers twenty-nine essays on a wide range of topics related to Genesis, written by leading experts in the field. Topics include its formation, reception, textual history and translation, themes, theologies, and place within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

This book is about creation stories in dialogue, not only between different religious views, but also between current day scientific perspectives. International specialists, like Alan Culpepper, David Christian, John Haught, Randall Zachman, Ellen van Wolde from various disciplines are reflecting on the interface between science and religion relating questions of creation and origin. This multi-disciplinary discussion by some of the leading exponents in this field makes the book unique, not only in its depth of discussion, but also in it wide ranging interdisciplinary discussion. The point of departure of all the contributions is the prestige lecture by Alan Culpepper where he argues for bringing Biblical material into discussion with modern scientific insights relating to creation and origin.