Impact of the Story of Creation

. . . wields an extraordinary influence upon western culture" (xix).

Specifically, the author believes that the creation story has had a strong influence on our culture not only hundreds or thousands of years ago, but today as well, although she focuses on the first centuries after Christ:

What I intend to show in this book is how certain ideas---in particular, ideas concerning sexuality, moral freedom, and human value---took their definitive form during the first four centuries as interpretations of the Genesis creation stories, and how they have continued to affect our culture and everyone in it, Christian or not, ever since (xxviii).

Her book explores the evolution of this influence, focusing on the strict moral message of the story and its impact on Christians and the development of Christian morality.

Pagels supports her arguments with analysis based primarily on Christian theological literature which represents Christian thinking through the centuries. For example, the author notes that the early Christians did not think that the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis was sexual, but rather a matter of disobedience toward God and moral responsibility: "Its point i

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Adam Eve, Christianity Increasingly, Roman Empire, God God, Clement Alexandria, Eve Genesis, Empire Christianity, Eve Serpent, Minucius Felix, adam eve, creation story, Catholic Protestant, story creation, roman empire, eve serpent, adam eve serpent, power nature, christianity roman empire, christianity roman, interpretation genesis, conversion emperor, strict interpretation, development christian morality, interpretation story creation,
Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)