Oxford pg 3-7; online text pg 20-21

My mom loves reading the dictionary.  At first I thought it was weird, but now an English major I find the dictionary interesting.  The exact meanings of words can end up being something you had never thought about that word meaning.  Words we use every day could be pronounced differently and have a second meaning you never knew about.  It is very interesting.  For Genesis I always thought it meant "beginning," but it's actually "story of." The meaning changes my way of interpreting the text.  In the Oxford, the author says Genesis means"origin" so maybe it's the origin of generations?
Author: Not until the Greco-Roman period did the thought of Moses being the writer of Genesis; therefore, it is not necessarily true.  Many problems have arose calling Moses the author, so I do not take too much mind power contemplating the authorship.  I feel anonymous is better because it encompasses the feeling of all the Hebrews, not a specific person.  Sometimes I feel if the book is written by a righteous man then I am intimidated to understand the lesson, thinking I will never be at the relationship they are at with God.  Anonymous makes it easier to connect with.

Major Emphasis: Describes the creation of the world and humanity, the disruption created by human choice, and the subsequent dispersal of humanity over the face of the known world.

 I think it is important, just as Pigott said, to view what the Bible is saying through the eyes of the Hebrew people.  We cannot have a modern mind-set when reading the Old Testament because that's not how, nor who, it was written for.  The facts they know are not what we know now: Earth being round, the Holy Spirit, word meanings, etc.  Because the creation theory was written on these terms, I think the focus should not be on how God created the world but on the fact that it was Him alone.  

We discussed in class about this diagram and I think it is so cool! The way that they thought the sky actually opened up to produce rain was very clever, knowing that all the science they had was from observation.  I wonder if, when they buried their dead in the ground, they thought the bodies fell through.

The online text says the "Adam's Family." That makes me think of the old TV show and how different they actually are, or if I am missing a connection to the Bible in the show.

The idea that God created humans through Him makes my life so much more meaningful.  People should live with that information every day and know they are special individually.  It is an honor to be mentioned in the creation theory because God found us important, not simply laborers of his fields. 

"And God said, 'Let Us make humanity in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" Gen. 1:26

Interpretations: I find it extremely rare yet good that all of the different sects of religious groups were able to accept Genesis as an authoritative text.  Though I can understand how they would pick and choose stories to match their individual practices, the main message continued through out all religions.  The validity of Genesis was never tested until Modern Science.  I believe that we should not set out to prove or disprove the Bible.  If something is unbelievable then we must judge for ourselves whether it is a true story or whether God gave us the message through fiction.  

I hope I will be able to see the parallel stories and the interwoven cultures that are in the stories of Genesis.  Creation has always been a one time thing for me, so beginning with my beginning is a good way to start.