Preexistence and Creation: A Perspective on How to Read the Creation Story

Authors

• John Gee, Brigham Young University - Provo
• Taylor Halverson, Brigham Young University - ProvoFollow

Keywords

premortal existence, ancient scripture, Hebrew storytelling

Abstract

Joseph Smith restored ancient scriptures that explicitly mention our existence, and also the existence of matter, before the world was formed. There are hints of this in the biblical account in the original Hebrew and in the pattern of Hebrew storytelling, though subsequent bible translations obscure these insights.

In telling the story of the creation, the author of Genesis draws on a number of storytelling conventions.  Bible scholar Robert Alter describes these conventions in his book, The Art of Biblical Narrative.

Original Publication Citation

Preexistence and Creation, John Gee and Taylor Halverson, Meridian Magazine, January 29, 2018.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Gee, John and Halverson, Taylor, "Preexistence and Creation: A Perspective on How to Read the Creation Story" (2018). Faculty Publications. 10031.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/10031

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2018

Publisher

Meridian Magazine

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

Copyright Use Information

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/