Has anyone else noticed the two creation myths in Genesis? This was pointed out to me by a Catholic priest. The one at Gen 1:1and then *another* starting from Gen 2:4. One metaphyscial, the other more in line with folktale. Why are there two versions?
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hijklmno
ANSWERS: 2
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This has been 'noticed by anyone else' for about three and a half thousand years - ie: straight after it was written... Explanations abound among those who want to tell you the Genesis story is literal truth. Thankfully everyone else just says 'Interesting eh?'...
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That there are seemingly two creation narratives has been long noticed and commented on. Liberal scholarship has, in the past, attempted to make a big fuss of this, saying that this proves there were different redactors (editors), but this is largely dismissed these days, even in liberal circles. In fact, the presence of the two narratives actually strengthens the probability that there was no redaction...had there been, surely SOMEONE would have attempted to make one story out of the two. It would seem more likely that these two accounts are merely differences in perspective. Abraham, who would have been the oldest known reciter of the creation narrative, clearly knew two perspectives on the event. One was a summary. The other was more detailed. When Moses put them to paper, he made no attempt to change them, because they had been revealed to Abraham that way. this is called the dual perspective theory, and is the one held my many now.
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