Gods Made The First Humans From Scratch

Pete Enns writes that the Genesis creation account wasn’t written at the creation of the world, but during the creation of the Israelite people. It’s purpose therefore wasn’t to break scientific ground on the question, “How did people get here,” but instead on the social, cultural and political question, “How did we get here as a people?”:

Ancient peoples assumed that somewhere in the distant past, near the beginning of time, the gods made the first humans from scratch — an understandable conclusion to draw. They wrote stories about “the beginning,” however, not to lecture their people on the abstract question “Where do humans come from?” They were storytellers, drawing on cultural traditions, writing about the religious — and often political — beliefs of the people of their own time.

Their creation stories were more like a warm-up to get to the main event: them. Their stories were all about who they were, where they came from, what their gods thought of them and, therefore, what made them better than other peoples.

Likewise, Israel’s story was written to say something about their place in the world and the God they worshiped.

via Pete Enns: Once More, With Feeling: Adam, Evolution and Evangelicals.