Well written, describing Genesis as a remarkable document .

books:

	• Understanding Genesis (The heritage of Biblical Israel) Nahum M. Sarna Schocken, 1970 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Even better than his book on Exodus

Sarna puts Genesis in its historical context, showing details that would have made many stories from Genesis more comprehensible to Bible-era readers. For example, today's readers may be a bit baffled by Abraham's occasional attempts to pass off Sarah as his sister. But Sarna explains that in the ancient Mideast women had the status of a "sister-wife", superior to other wives. Similarly, Sarna clarifies the Tower of Babel story, explaining how the Torah makes fun of paganism. Reading Sarna won't necessarily change your mind about large theological questions; believers will remain believers after reading him, and unbelievers will remain unbelievers. But Sarna gives background that makes the Torah come to life a bit more.

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Well written, describing Genesis as a remarkable document .

This book takes an exegetical approach to Genesis as a work created by writers who saw far beyond their contemporary culture to create an enduring statement about a singular God, his greatest creation (the human being) and the moral and ethical demands that God places upon us. He compares Genesis to other great creation myths, and shows two primary things; 1) that a the monotheistic belief places God above and beyond all of nature, which is radically different from other contemporaneous polytheistic religions, and 2) that there is an order, logic and morality in the world that people must follow in order to not be estranged from God and ultimately themselves and society. Law, justice, mercy, charity are values expressed in a book which was written at a time when these were radical ideas. The author's mastery of history and religion are forged into an engaging, powerful exposition of the profound meaning of Genesis and it's seminal importance in the history of human thought.

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Useful for understanding

Sarna brings a wealth of historical and current knowledge into the reading of Genesis. He presents each story in its historical and cultural context. For example on creation "Not science ... It should be obvious that by the nature of things, none of these stories can possible be the product of human memory, not in any modern sense of the word scientific accounts of the origin ...". Many of the insights seem obvious when first heard, but I hadn't thought of them. For example when discussing Cain and Abel "it must be remembered ... no one alive had yet known the experience of death, so that Cain had no way of determining that his blow again Abel could extinguish his life.". Sarna draws clear contrast between the Noah flood and the Mesopotamian flood stories.

As Sarna moves into the Patriarchal period, his number harmony and genealogy tables are useful . The geographic information on "the problem of Ur", and "Sodom and Gomorrah" as well as presented maps, are also helpful. Sarna however does more than just present background information, and discusses how the doctrines and "moral" of the stories are presented. I did perhaps think his chapter on Binding of Isaac, could have been a little stronger and the Joseph story is about a fourth of Genesis and just 1 chapter is devoted here to it.

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Excellent Jewish insight into Genesis

This book deals with interpretation of some of the stories in Genesis (creation, flood, tower etc). Sarna explains that these accounts were written particularly to show the superiority of Yahweh to pagan religions and not as much to simply narrate how these things happened historically. The author writes from a relatively conservative standpoint here but does not assume LITERAL interpretation of many parts of genesis - rather he sees them as being written in ways that pagan polytheists of 5000 years ago would understand and appreciate. Highly recommended for any Jew/Christian interested in the REAL interpretation of Genesis.

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Very good book

This book does an excellent job at explaining historical and other bases of Genesis. I found the writing very approachable and practical. Compared with pure philosophy books, like "Guide for the Perplexed," this is a light read (which I mean in a good sense).

reviews: page 1, 2

"This book...is designed to make the Bible of Israel intelligible, relevant, and hopefully, inspiring to a sophisticated generation, possessed of intellectual curiosity and ethical sensitivity...It is based on the belief that the study of the Book of Books must constitute a mature intellectual challenge, an exposure to the expanding universe of scientific biblical scholarship...Far from presenting a threat to faith, a challenge to the intellect may reinforce faith and purify it."--from the Introduction

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