course, meant that they affirmed the book of Genesis.4 In brief, the canonicity of Genesis is without controversy. In Jewish circles, the first book of the Bible is known by its opening phrase bereshit (“in the beginning”). In the English Bible tradition, based on the Septuagint, the book’s name is Genesis, from a Greek word that means “origins.” These names are appropriate because this book is a book of origins, beginning with the origins of the cosmos and humanity and moving on to the story of