different kings that Sarah is his
sister, not his wife (Genesis 12
and 20), and Jacob is renamed
Israel twice (Genesis 32 and 35).
The acceptance of these multiple
truths is a fundamental aspect of
rabbinic Judaism. For Christian
traditionalists, however, there can
be no contradictions: Genesis 2 is
a further explanation of 1; Genesis
12 and 20 are two separate stories;
and Jacob’s name is only officially
changed in Genesis 35 after his
covenant with God.Political purpose
Wellhausen and other scholars also
believed the identity of the Genesis
authors could be contextualized
from theological and political
implications present in the text.
One theory dates the authors to
the reigns of David and Solomon(c.900 BCE), with the “J” author
compiling stories from Judah and
the “E” author compiling stories
from the northern tribes, creating
political narratives to unite the
divided Israelites.Schools of interpretation
In the 1960s, scholars led by Robert
Alter turned to literary criticism
to unlock Genesis, examining
its “final form” in Hebrew. They
looked at literary devices, such as
wordplay (often lost in translation),
and repetition, and the different
genres (which might indicate the
merging of multiple texts).
In the latter half of the 20th
century, scholars shifted criticism
from the text itself to the personal
agendas of its interpreters and
claimed there was no “right” way
to read the Bible. Most interestingto nonscholarly readers of the Bible,
perhaps, is the tension between
Genesis and science. Translation
of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian
creation story, in 1872 revealed a
flood story similar to the biblical
one. For some, this confirmed that
Genesis was accurate, but for
others, it indicated the influence
of Babylonian mythology. This
translation came only 13 years after
Darwin published his theory of
evolution in The Origin of Species
(1859). In 1925, the Scopes trial to
determine whether Darwin or
Genesis should be taught in
Tennessee schools pushed the
issue to the top of US politics.
Debate continues in the US today,
as a new wave of creationist
museums seek to demonstrate
that science and Genesis are
not necessarily incompatible. ■GENESIS
22:1–14
25:33 32:24–32 41:40 50:22–26
27:1–29 37:12–28 49:29–33
Esau sells his
birthright to his
brother Jacob in
exchange for food.Jacob wrestles
with God at
Peniel, after which
he is given a new
name: Israel.Pharaoh appoints
Joseph as his second
in command after
Joseph interprets
his dreams.Joseph dies in
Egypt, requesting
his family take his
bones with them
when they leave.God tests Abraham
by asking him to
sacrifice Isaac,
his son. Abraham
proves his loyalty.Jacob tricks his
aging father, Isaac,
into blessing him
by pretending to
be Esau.Joseph is sold into
slavery by his
brothers, who are
jealous that he is his
father’s favorite.Reunited with Joseph,
Jacob dies after
giving his blessing
to each of his
12 sons.19
US_018-019_Genesis_Chapter_1_Intro.indd 19 28/09/17 6:06 pm