History of Judaism

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Genesis 1-11 and what these texts tell us about the origins of Israelite religion. It discusses what the major episodes in these 11 chapters of the Torah tell us about the differences between classical Mesopotamian paganism and the origins of Israelite thought and religion.

From the Paper:

"Genesis is the book of beginnings. That is what the word itself means, and it takes us back into the very dawn of human history. It opens with an awareness of the greatest material fact in all human life; a fact that we are all subconsciously aware of almost every waking moment, that is, that we are living in a universe. Then this galaxy itself is moving at incredible speed through the vastness of space in conjunction with millions of other galaxies like ours. It is precisely at that point that the Bible opens in a majestic recognition that man is part of a universe." In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).( Langer, Ruth, Jewish understandings of the religious other. , Theological Studies, 06-01-2003, pp 255)"

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• Essay # 6162 : "History of the Jews in America"

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