First time reading Genesis...

[hani_backup]

which is an assignment for my writing course, Our Animal Selves. It's the first five chapters of Genesis. King James Version.

Our assignment is:

Respond to the following questions: How does the Bible portray the relation between humans, animals, and the natural world? What have Adam and Eve gained and what have they lost? Pay particular attention to the Bible's treatment of language, clothing and companionship. Make sure to support your claims with specific evidence from the text (quotations, examples, and interpretations).

Well, seems simple enough. I know I have to get over this hesitation/block to get anything down on screen/paper beacuse it'll never be good enough compared to what I envision in my mind, you know? Also, just the instinctive recoil from anything religious... I've never been in a class where I was suppose to read the "Bible," religoius or literary so this is a first for me. I hope I can put aside that bias...

I mean, God gave man "dominion" over the creatures on the earthly firmament and waters and air. (Or was it sky?) And Adam and Eve got kicked outta the Garden.

I also have 50-ish pages to read for computer science and a reading test on that tomorrow. Luckily I've finished my AI reading already though that was a bit technical.

Comments

[elitegoldfish.livejournal.com]

Revelations is a pretty interesting read when you're done with Genesis. At least you're getting to read the neat parts and not stuck reading through Leviticus with it's list of "no doing this, no doing that, various hings that no longer apply to life as we know it..."

[roguebitch.livejournal.com]

When I was in college I took a course called "The Bible As Literature". It put it a bit into perspective for me: it's just a story. Granted, a very powerful and wide-reaching story, but still. Perhaps if you can separate the religious message from the story, you might have better luck with your paper. ;->

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Or Numbers ...

[hani.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'll look for Revelations on my own, but if I get assigned it sometime, I'll think of your recommendation!

[hani.livejournal.com]

Numbers what?

[hani.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a hard time stomping down on my feminist when Adam was all "God, it was Eve's fault. She gave me the apple and I ate it. She's my woman, she's my wife." >_

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

The Book of Numbers. Name ... pretty much covers what it is. Well, it's not JUST numbers, but there are a lot of numbers in it.

[hani.livejournal.com]

I Wikipedia'd it to see what on Earth the Book of Numbers could be about.

Wow. Seems...uhm...likely-to-make-Izzy-fall-asleep stuff...

[roguebitch.livejournal.com]

Yep, Adam demonstrates his total lack of ability to take responsibility for himself. Of course, Eve was all, "The snake did it," so we can see that buck-passing is a very ancient human activity. ;-D

[hani.livejournal.com]

I wonder, if the snake was asked, what he would have said... "God made me, therefore anything I do is planned and he knew all along you'd get yourself kicked out of the garden of Eden"? :P