Keywords

Creation, Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Latter-day Saints, Book of Moses, Genesis 1-3

Abstract

This volume begins with the same event the Bible itself does—the Creation. The Creation narrative and the Garden of Eden narrative that immediately follows have been the subject of much study throughout the years. Over the past century, particular attention has been given to the similarities between it and other ancient Near Eastern Creation narratives. For Latter-day Saints, the Creation and Garden of Eden narratives play central roles in their worship practices, the narratives themselves laying down the plan of salvation God ordained for all his children. In this first chapter, Dan Belnap describes what creation meant to those of the ancient Near East and how that understanding continues to provide a template of salvation for God’s family. —DB & AS

Original Publication Citation

From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. by Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron Schade (Provo: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 1-42