"In the beginning: Reading Genesis"

The book of Genesis is about origins: of humans, nature, family conflict and reconciliation, of war and moral confusion. It poses questions: why, having created the world (“and it was good”), does God seek to destroy it? Why does he command Abraham to kill his only son (Isaac)? We trace these and other questions from their biblical foundations through the Western tradition, examining their expression in religion, philosophy, literature and art. We probe the origins of Western ideas of human rights, of nature and the environment and of God. Readings range from the Bible and early Jewish and Christian texts to modern philosophical, psychological and feminist interpretations.