Mara explores the very first verse of the Bible, examining what "the heavens and the earth" meant to ancient audiences versus our modern understanding. She unpacks how ancient Near Eastern creation stories influenced Genesis and what makes the Israelite perspective distinct.
"I see a being, picking up a paintbrush to outline a space for his creatures, his humans, to be with him. And whenever these humans tell the story of their origin, they point right back at him as they notice that outline."
KEY THEMES:
• The Hebrew words for "heaven" (shamayim) and "earth" (erets) and their meaning
• How ancient audiences understood creation as functional rather than material
• The narrative as the story of reuniting heaven and earth
• The enchanted worldview of ancient texts versus modern disenchantment
REFERENCES:
• The Bible Project's Ancient Cosmology podcast series, Heaven and Earth classroom series (for a quick visual, take a look at the "heaven and earth" theme video available on YouTube)
• John Walton's "The Lost World of Genesis One"
• Robin Parry's "The Biblical Cosmos"
