If you could address the relationship between the Bible's creation account, and that of other cultures in the surrounding area. I've heard many people question the Bible's authority and veracity by saying things like "well a lot of it is just copied from the people groups that lived near the ancient Israelites." Is this even a valid criticism?
With thanks to William Collen for the question.
I touched on this subject here but it is well worth exploring more thoroughly. It is probably best to answer the question directly and then explore the context.
No, this is not valid criticism for a very important reason. Factually, the writers of Genesis are not just copying chunks of contemporary literature. Whilst they make use of such stories for frames and foils, they very explicitly tell a vastly different story - that of one, all powerful God. Moreover, Genesis is not presented as a hypothetical alternative but rather as revealed truth in contradistinction to all other false narratives.
Generally speaking, it is fallacious to question the authority or veracity of these accounts on the grounds that they use source material. All writers do as much. The truth of a story is actually a distinct consideration to whether parts of it are copied or bear similarities to other stories. Truths may be re-expressed, after all.
As enriching as it is theologically to compare the linguistic and stylistic similarities between parts of Genesis and, say, The Epic of Gilgamesh or the Enuma Elish, it is the dissimilarities that scream the heavens down. Not only is biblical monotheism unique in ancient mythologies, it is not even the most obvious choice given the vagaries of human existence. Crucially, though, it draws a line in the sand. Various polytheisms can co-exist and even merge but this is one of those binary distinctions we have observed: there cannot be only one God and also many other gods. Monotheism precludes polytheism.
However, there are good questions sitting underneath these sorts of criticisms. Don’t all peoples simply create their own gods? For the Babylonians, Egyptians and Canaanites there were many, for the Hebrews only one. Yet, don’t they all think they’re telling the true story? How would one know which, if any, is true?
Fair enough. But then how do we judge any story as true? And what precisely do we mean by true? Not wishing to get too Fr Ted, but, that would be an epistemological matter, and there is no high ground here. It is Pilate’s pitch-perfect question to Jesus. What is truth? (Jn 18:38) For Christians, the word truth means more than mere accuracy or consistency. Jesus had already revealed this to Pilate but Pilate missed it even whilst sensing its authenticity: all those who listen to Jesus’s voice will hear the truth. (Jn 18:37) But you have to trust Him. This is the only guarantee of what is true.
Back to Genesis. The difference with the Bible tradition is the claim that all the other mythologies are false. In other words, truth is something revealed, given, imparted or communicated and not created, concocted or constructed. This is a crucial distinction for two reasons.
Firstly, it represents a direct challenge to syncretism and other forms of relativism. The opening of Genesis is not written as just another creation mythology. It makes a claim on the reader. Here’s the Truth. Reflect on it attentively, studiously and mindful of context and tradition and you will encounter the difference. It challenges the shrugged shoulders of: I don’t know if there are many gods, one God, or just plain nothing. It states: you will know, if you read this properly. The answer is here.
Secondly, it provides some certainty in interpretation. Propositional truths are like anchor points or lampposts. Ah, I’m not a plaything of capricious deities, or an irrelevant collection of atoms, or born to be slave to human whims. I’m a free and beloved child of the benevolent creator God. Ah, the universe was created ordered and not out of conflict - that’s its fundamental meaning. Ah, the world is good and beautiful, and death and destruction are not its destiny, etc.
Once grasped, we can revisit the matter more subtly. In their various forms, other creation mythologies principally represent human longing for the divine. They are not wholly false, as truths can be discovered within them. For example, that there are spiritual realities beyond normal human sight, that good and evil are real, that we each have a destiny and will be judged in relation to it. The Bible provides the vision to see and appreciate Truth wherever it is found.
Finally, this has important implications for a correct Christian reading of Genesis. In what sense are the creation accounts true? Are we expected to believe God created the world in seven days a few thousand years ago? Or that serpents talk? It quickly becomes clear we are not expected to take everything literally but, rather, are called to discern how Truth is imparted within and through story DNA. This comes from paying close attention to the ways in which the actual stories are constructed. In so doing, we learn to open our hearts to the One Who Is Truth ever speaking through the pages and down the ages.
Header photo: What is Truth? 1890, Nikolai Ge, Wikimedia Commons