Something that has always interested me about the Bible is how its stories are usually told. Among believers, it is commonly held that the Bible is the word of God, yet it is (mostly) written from the 3rd-person perspective of an omniscient author that isn't God himself since God is referred to as a separate being from the narrator. A couple of ideas stem from this observation. What if the Bible were written with God as the narrator? Would this influence anything significantly? The current narrator states how God feels about various actions and events. How much, if any, of these details would be lost if God were the narrator? It also makes me wonder if I could find a way to formulate an experimental telling of the same story from the perspective of multiple, objectively omniscient narrators. Could I get each story to leave the reader with different thoughts or feelings without using any subjective narration?
Another widely-held belief is that the Bible, more specifically the Old Testament, is a series of symbolism and metaphors. Rather than the literal interpretation, they are merely stories created to explain the numerous facets of life, nature, culture. The stories describe what is not fully known. Where did we come from? Perhaps it is much easier to tell a story about two people named Adam and Eve than it is to try to comprehend the concept of people being willed into existence. Maybe I should find creative ways to explain more abstract ideas through relatable stories.
Regardless of one's interpretation of the Bible, literal or not, Adam and Eve are integral to the beginnings of Biblical history. Rereading the accounts of Creation, and that which shortly follows, reminds me of a high school assignment I once had. We were tasked to write our own "Creation" story, modifying any existing story or creating something entirely new. World building has always been something I've enjoyed seeing whether in a book, movie, video game, or TV show. Maybe my stories would benefit from strong world building. But could/would that make them needlessly long?
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The Bible (KJV)
The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg
Image:
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, via Wikimedia Commons
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