Saturday, December 13, 2014
Creation Stories
Now that you have researched a creation story of your choosing and have also read the creation story from the Bible, what similarities do you notice between your story and the story from Genesis? Do your story and the story from Genesis have a lot in common or is Genesis more similar to some of the other creation stories you learned about in class? If so, which ones? Do any of the similarities from any of the stories seem archetypal?
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ReplyDeleteThe Bible creation story and the Hindu creation story have some similar aspects. In both stories, there was a supreme soul who created the major aspects of the universe. For example, in the Hindu Creation story, Lord Brahma created the heaven, skies, and earth, and God created the heaven and the earth. At one point in both stories, the universe was bare and inactive. I believe my creation story and the Bible Creation Story have a decent amount in common compared to the other creation stories. For example, the Greek mythological story is no where similar to the Bible Creation Story, for the plot is more elaborate and many more characters are involved in the Greek mythological story. The Sikkhism creation story and the Bible Creation Story both have one creator who creates many aspects of the world, such as creatures, and this similarity seems archetypal. Overall, the creation stories are quite unique, but share some similarities if you observe closely.
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My experience with reading the Bible creation story and comparing it to the one I researched was pretty interesting. I noticed that in the Genesis god already exists, but the Aztecs believe that the creator created itself and other gods before creating the world. God worked alone, once, while several Aztec deities create the world over and over. The Aztec story is similar to the Hindu creation story in my opinion because of the repeated creation. Also, both religions have several gods. A difference between the two is how in Hindus believe in a patterned cycle, the world is destructed by Shiva every time Brahma sleeps and after it is created again Vishnu preserves it. The Aztecs sacrifice gods and different gods do different things to create and destroy the world.
ReplyDeleteI found it really interesting to compare other creation stories to the Bible. I think that it was interesting that both the Hindu creation story and the Bible started with there being nothing, just a dark ocean void. In the sense that everything was created, except for Eve who came from Adams rib, it was the same. There were many things that differed though, such as the singular god or creator, rather than there being more than one god like in Hinduism. Another thing I found interesting was that Hinduism and the Aztecs believed in the world being destroyed and then recreated, however the Bible, Greeks, and the Norse believe that the world we have now is the only one. Also while in most creation stories there was no time frame for the creations, in the Bible it specifically mentions 6 days of creating, then one day of rest. Overall I think learning and researching different creation stories helped me at least, to see the Bible from a more literary aspect and to notice more.
ReplyDeleteThe Sikh creation story has many similarities with the other creation stories that were shared in class, and with one in Genesis. Nearly all of the creation stories that we talked about in class began with nothingness or a vast empty space. The aspect of a 'creator' or single being that designs the Earth is seen is the Hindu, Sikh and Genesis creation stories. This could definitely be an archetype, because it is a reoccurring idea in creation stories. However, the creation of multiple worlds is present in the Hindu and Aztec creation stories but not in Genesis or the Sikh creation story. In addition, each story had a different explanation of how the world's components were made. The Sikh story says that the creator simply thought of what he wanted and made it appear, while the Hindu story tells that everything was made from a lotus flower split into three.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few similarities between the stories of Taoism and Christianity. Like most people have already mentioned there seems to be a common trend of a “creator” of the world such as in Christianity, and Hinduism. But in Taoism, their focus is not on the creator of the world, but rather who found the meaning in the world. This person in Taoism is Tao Te Chang, and he was born from a virgin mother. Tao was brought to his mother by a stork, but this symbolizes the birth from a virgin. Although we have not read this part in the Genesis, this is similar to the story in Christianity where Mary gives birth to Jesus as a virgin. I have also noticed there are similarities between Christianity and Hinduism. For example at the beginning of time there was nothing, and then a creator (God, Brahma) creates the earth, plants and animals. There are many similarities between the story of Christianity and other religious beginnings.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the Genesis creation story, I came across some vaguely similar ideas that reflected on the creation story of Hinduism. As Keely stated before, the Earth is created from nothing. There is no land, no skies and no life on the Earth. It is just simply the vast oceans with murky waters. Then, one lord creates all the life there is to be on Earth. Of course, there are not many specific similarities between the two religions' creation stories, but the general idea of both of them will definitely catch the eye of a casual observer.
ReplyDeleteI think that most of the creation stories have one distinct similarity. In most of the creation stories we have discussed so far, the world started out with nothing, and then there was a single being that arose and started to create the Earth, bringing water upon the Earth, Land upon the water, and animals upon the land and in the sea. I think that the Greek creation story stood out because instead of "nothing" existing in the beginning, chaos existed instead. And there was also a continuous pattern of a son overthrowing his father. I think that Genesis itself stood out as well, because it was the only creation story where the the creator is betrayed by his creations.
ReplyDeleteThe Norse creation story and the creation story in the bible are nearly complete different. The only thing that was similar between the two was that the last things created were man and woman. The Norse creation story was more similar to the Greek creation story because both discussed different races originating from one event such as titans and giants and gods originating from Gaea and Uranus or such as the gods and giants being reproduced asexually from Ymir. However, there was no other story where the world was created from a corpse. I find it interesting how different people can interpret the creation of the world so differently.
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