Confronting Creation: How Judaism Reads Genesis

By setting forth the book of Genesis as it is represented in the rabbinic statement "Genesis Rabbah", Neusner demonstrates the way in which Judaism confronted creation and the Genesis story. In "Confronting Creation", the author presents a new, analytical translation of "Genesis Rabbah", a document that came to closure around 400 CE. What made that particular time crucial in the life of Israel and the Jewish people is an event that also helped shape the entire history of Western civilization. It was the rise of Christianity to the status of the official religion of the Roman Empire, which laid the foundations for Western, Christian civilization. The Judaic sages' rereading of the Torah's account of the beginning of the world and of Israel in Genesis took place during the time Western civilization was undergoing significant changes. That fact explains the importance of this reading of Genesis to Western civilization, because "Genesis Rabbah" illuminates the Judaic tradition in contemplating God's creation of the world.