The Book of Genesis
Gen 1: Biblical Creation in Conversation with Ancient Near Eastern Creation Myths
Guest: K. Lawson Younger Jr., Assyriologist.
In this episode of The Bible Bar, we read Genesis 1 alongside ancient Near Eastern creation stories with K. Lawson Younger Jr., a leading Assyriologist. Drawing on texts from Mesopotamia and the wider ancient Near East, the conversation sets Genesis 1 in its ancient world and explores what makes the biblical account distinctive. Along the way, we talk about the Enuma Elish, why Genesis lacks divine conflict, how creation happens through speech and order, what it means to be human in these texts, and how ancient audiences may have understood these stories.
Guest: K. Lawson Younger Jr., Assyriologist.
In this episode of The Bible Bar, we read Genesis 1 alongside ancient Near Eastern creation stories with K. Lawson Younger Jr., a leading Assyriologist. Drawing on texts from Mesopotamia and the wider ancient Near East, the conversation sets Genesis 1 in its ancient world and explores what makes the biblical account distinctive. Along the way, we talk about the Enuma Elish, why Genesis lacks divine conflict, how creation happens through speech and order, what it means to be human in these texts, and how ancient audiences may have understood these stories.
Gen 2: Sabbath, Sanctuary, and the Second Creation
With Bill Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary - In this episode, we explore two major themes in Genesis 2: Sabbath and the creation of woman. We examine the parallels between creation and the Tabernacle, how Israel’s Sabbath differs from other ancient seven-day cycles, and how Sabbath functions as liberation from the economic order — restoring people to one another in covenant.
We also unpack the meaning of ezer kenegdo (“a helper opposite him”) and why the phrase signals strength and correspondence, not subordination, and explore why the account of Creation uniquely appears in Scripture in two tellings side by side.
With Bill Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary - In this episode, we explore two major themes in Genesis 2: Sabbath and the creation of woman. We examine the parallels between creation and the Tabernacle, how Israel’s Sabbath differs from other ancient seven-day cycles, and how Sabbath functions as liberation from the economic order — restoring people to one another in covenant.
We also unpack the meaning of ezer kenegdo (“a helper opposite him”) and why the phrase signals strength and correspondence, not subordination, and explore why the account of Creation uniquely appears in Scripture in two tellings side by side.