to be approached (Biallas 18).
Fundamental to Western culture and all of the cultures of humanity, are the Creation myths. For Western culture, the accounts of Creation in Genesis provide a glimpse of how it all began.
The most profound of humanity's inquiries into the riddles of the universe have brought forth the Creation myths: Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning of our lives and our deaths? How should we comprehend our place in the world and in time and space? These are basic questions of value and meaning. While they are affected by issues of fact, they are not in themselves factual inquiries; instead, they consist of attitudes toward facts and reality.
Consequently, the issues they generate are dealt with most immediately by myths. In Western society, Genesis (1:1-3) has had tremendous power. Barbara C. Sproul points out: "While the scientific claims it incorporates, so obviously at odds with modern ones, may be rejected, what about the myth itself? Most Westerners, whether or not they are practicing Jews or Christians, still show themselves to be the heirs to this tradition by holding to the view that people are sacred, the creatures of God" (Sproul 1).
The Western beliefs that mankind is superior to any other of the earth's creatures, or that time is rightly structured into seven-day weeks are attitudes toward reality founded on the first creation myth of Genesis.
The first myth in Genesis commences: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said 'Let there be light'; and there was light" (The Holy Bible; Genesis 1:1-3). The parallels between the first Creation account in Genesis and the Mesopotamian Creation epic Enumah Elish can be seen by obvious similarities in specific details. For instance, the order of Creation eve...