GENESIS: HISTORY, FICTION, OR NEITHER?

THREE VIEWS ON

THE BIBLE’S EARLIEST CHAPTERS

James K. Hoffmeier

Gordon J. Wenham

Kenton L. Sparks

Charles Halton, general editor

Stanley N. Gundry, series editor

ZONDERVAN

Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?

Copyright © 2015 by Charles Halton, James K. Hoffmeier, Gordon J. Wenham, Kenton L. Sparks

This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook. Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Halton, Charles, 1978-

Genesis : history, fiction, or neither : three views on the Bible’s earliest chapters / Charles Halton, general editor ; James K. Hoffmeier, Gordon J. Wenham, Kenton L. Sparks.

pages cm. – (Counterpoints: Bible and theology)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-310-51494-7 (softcover)

1. Bible. Genesis, I-XI – Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Halton, Charles, 1978- editor. II. Title.

BS1235.52.H65 2015

222'.1106 – dc23

2014030320

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Tammy Johnson

Cover photography: Corbis Images

To those who, like Jacob,

wrestle with God and man.

CONTENTS

Contributors

Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION

A DESICCATED FINGER AND THE STUDY OF GENRE

CHARLES HALTON

1. GENESIS 1–11 AS HISTORY AND THEOLOGY

JAMES K. HOFFMEIER

Responses

GORDON J. WENHAM

KENTON L. SPARKS

2. GENESIS 1–11 AS PROTOHISTORY

GORDON J. WENHAM

Responses

JAMES K. HOFFMEIER

KENTON L. SPARKS

3. GENESIS 1–11 AS ANCIENT HISTORIOGRAPHY

KENTON L. SPARKS

Responses

JAMES K. HOFFMEIER

GORDON J. WENHAM

CONCLUSION

WE DISAGREE. WHAT NOW?

CHARLES HALTON

Scripture Index

Subject Index

CONTRIBUTORS

Charles Halton (PhD, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion) is assistant professor in theology at Houston Baptist University. He has contributed to The IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets and Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction. He is the co-author of The First Female Authors: An Anthology of Women’s Writing in Mesopotamia. He virtually resides at charleshalton.com and his physical residence is in Louisville, Kentucky.

James K. Hoffmeier (PhD, University of Toronto) is professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern ...