Jehon Grist—Reading the Bible: In the Beginning…Biblical and Other Creation Stories

For millennia, we humans have wanted to know how it all began, and why. Within the tradition of the Western world, we need to go back to its earliest civilizations to find the foundations of our own notions of creation. First on our list is the Book of Genesis narrative, actually two creation stories blended into one. While that will be the focus of our class, we’ll also delve into the origin stories of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece to see not only how they differed from each other, but to what extent they contributed to each other and the Biblical account. Sessions will include richly illustrated historical and archaeological background so that students can fully appreciate the process that created the tales of our beginnings. Texts, notes and additional readings will be provided by the instructor.

9 Sundays: 1/21, 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, 2/25, 3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/31 @ 5:30-7pm; on Zoom

Here’s a brief video about the class.