Origins: The Ancient Impact and Modern Implications of Genesis 1-11

Paul Copan · Douglas Jacoby

Aug 2018 · Morgan James Publishing

About this eBook

“An excellent . . . introduction to the challenges and benefits of reading Genesis 1-11 as a genuinely ancient (specifically ancient Near Eastern) text.” —Iain Provon, author of Seriously Dangerous Religion

Origins turns much of what Christians learned in Sunday School on its head in a revealing comparison of the Genesis narrative to the competing pagan narrative of the day. Relatively few Bible readers are familiar with the world of the ancient Near East, centered in Mesopotamia and its most prominent city, Babylon. The culture, literature, religions, geography, etc. of the early biblical period dramatically influenced what was written and why and without an understanding of these elements, the purposes, meanings, and structure of the text are easily misread by modern readers and reduces the primeval narrative to a collection of Sunday School stories. Origins, while acknowledging the agendas of modern readers, remains on track in expounding on the ancient agenda. Paul Copan and Douglas Jacoby address the doubts of those who find stumbling blocks in early Genesis, facing the tough questions head on and providing biblical solution to many of the “problem passages.” Origins surprises and amazes all seekers, new believers, and veterans of Scripture alike as it devastates the polytheistic, pagan assumptions and proclaims the true God.

“A fine addition to the ever-increasing library of books concerning Genesis . . . One also hopes that this volume might be leveraged as an apologetics tool to help those looking for theistic viewpoints on Creation.” —Dustin Burlet, Conspectus

“This book can be a helpful apologetic and alternative view for those in the church who have only heard a literal approach to Genesis 1-11 and are looking for something different.” —Renew.org

Ratings and reviews

Origins helped me a lot to understand the Genesis 1-11 better. I am grateful to Dr. Douglas Jacoby and Dr. Paul Copan for their amazing work and dedication for every detail mentioned in this book. I could read this book as both exegetical and Apologetic work of Genesis 1-11. There are things that were doubts for me for years such as days mentioned in the creation, gods of Egypt, where the ten plagues each had its own meaning. Understanding the story of Noah and flood is the other mythologies, that proves Noah’s incident is true with strong evidence. The authorship of the book is Jewish as mentioned how animals of defiled and clean separated etc. I enjoyed reading recaps which was extremely helpful to understand more clearly the whole chapter in few sentences. And the lessons we learn from each section was very practical to learn and teach other correctly the true meanings of the text. God gave so much importance to the relationships and His covenant. I was completely engaged in reading Origins for hours, every chapter cleared my mind, taught me many things about nature of God and the creation. After reading Origins, genesis 1-11 is not same as before. I was overwhelmed with numerous resources provided for Genesis and as well as other parts of the Bible Douglas Jacoby and Paul Copan’s websites.

About the author

Paul Copan (PhD Philosophy, Marquette) is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. For six years he served as president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He has authored and edited over thirty books, including The Zondervan Dictionary of Christianity and Science, Is God a Moral Monster: Making Sense of the God of the Old Testament, and When God Goes to Starbucks. Paul has contributed essays to over thirty books, both scholarly and popular, and authored a number of articles in professional journals. In 2017, he was a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University. His website is paulcopan.com. Douglas Jacoby is an international Bible teacher. His degrees are from Drew, Harvard, and Duke. After serving as a minister for 20 years in Britain, Sweden, Australia, and the U.S., Douglas works as a freelance teacher and consultant, as well as an adjunct professor of theology at Lincoln Christian University. He has engaged in a number of debates with well-known atheists, imams, and rabbis. Since the late ’90s, Douglas has led annual tours to the biblical world. Douglas has written 33 books, recorded 600 podcasts, and spoken in over 100 universities, and in over 500 cities, in 125 nations around the world. His website is douglasjacoby.com.