nce of people who do want to adhere to a literal interpretation.
In the Beginning is AsimovÆs analysis of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. In it he offers all the data he can about both conservative and liberal scholarship and exegesis of Genesis. He states that his book ôdoes not argue one way or the other. It offers no polemics. It merely considers the verses of the Bible, . . . discusses the content and meaning, and compares them with the scientific view that pertains to the passageö (1-2).
He summarizes a library full of historical research on Genesis by saying (2-3) that, as a written document, Genesis is woven together out of two earlier documents: the J (for Jehovah) document, written perhaps as early as 700 B.C.E., and containing mainly the dramatic tales and legends found in Genesis; and the P (for Priestly) document, written during or soon after the Babylonian captivity, and containing the more philosophical elements of Genesis. (On this division see also, e.g., Driver 12-15; Hayes 50-52.) It is generally accepted among at least li
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