Christian Creation in Babylonian Myth

Paper Summary:

This paper deals primarily with the creation myth as found in the Bible and how the story itself is a hybrid of Babylonian writings that existed hundreds of years before the writing of the "Old Testament". It attempts to show how the two myths of creation, "Enuma Elish" and "Genesis," have parallels and differences that ultimately were shaped by the cultures that recorded them.

From the Paper:

"Enuma Elish, the Mesopotamian story of creation, is the perfect embodiment of humanity's reliance on the gods, and also the prevailing theme of polytheism, the jealousy and greed of the gods. The kind of humanistic qualities that are given to the gods Tiamat, Marduk and Anshar will later be echoed in the quarreling of the Greek gods of Mount Olympus. The need to personify the gods and make them seem simply as more powerful humans, with all the emotions and drives that come with the human condition, is a method of further understanding a world that presented so many unknown to the unsophisticated and mystical thinking Babylonians."

More papers on Christian Creation in Babylonian Myth:

• Comparison Essay # 15309 : "Babylonian and Judeao-Christian Creation Beliefs"
• Comparison Essay # 25940 : "Creation Myths"

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