ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO SAN GIORGIO DI MANTOVA
eBook nr.1
HEBRAISM AND CHRISTIANITY The Bible is the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. Genesis is the first book of the entire Bible. It explains the actual events of the origin of life: how God created everything. Chapters 1 and 2 explain the creation of all things. It is supposed that the Lord God is infinite, all-powerful, eternal and he must have existed before everything. There are two creation accounts: they differ little one another. Both tell that The Lord God is the Creator. He made a man and a woman in his image and to reflect his power. Lord God gave them the whole earth to rule over, care for, and cultivate.
First creation account (1,1-2,4)
The account is based on a seven days pattern. Day
1:
God
separated the light from the darkness and he called the light "day," and the darkness "night." He
defined
the
alternation of light and dark “Day and Night“.
Day
2:
God
separated
the
water below the firmament from the one above the
firmament
and called the firmament or heavens“.
“sky
Day 3: God separated the sea from the land. Plants, vegetation, and trees
were
created.
Lord
God
designed
each one to reproduce it’s one ‘kind’ or type.
Day
4:
The
sun, the moon, and the stars were
created.
God
placed
them
in
the
heavens so as to
distinguish
day and night.
Day 5: Every living creature
of
the
seas and every bird were created. God blessed multiply.
Day
6:
land
dwelling
animals created.
All were
them
to
Then God created man with the following characteristics: - He Is created man and woman. - He is created in God’s image. - He is blessed to multiply. - He is given the vegetation for food: seeds and fruits.
Day 7: God finished his work of creation and so he rested , blessing it and making it holy.
Second account (2,5-2,25) When the Lord God made the earth and the sky, no tree, no bush, no grass grew
because
there
was
no
man to till the ground. Therefore
the
LORD
God
formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became “a living being�. In the East part of Eden, the LORD God planted a garden. Man was placed in there. Eden garden contained many fruit trees as well as the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God gave man the garden to take care of it but he was given instructions: he could eat of every
tree
in
the
garden,
looking pleasant and good for food, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil otherwise he would die.
The LORD God created land animals and birds of the heavens and asked man to name them while searching for a partner. But, none of them was a suitable companion for man.
So God caused man to fall asleep. Lord God created woman from Adam’s rib. They became one flesh. Man and woman were both naked but they felt no shame.
ISLAM
Muslims believe there is only one
God
who
everything: Arabic
word
created
Allah
(the
for
God),
therefore Creation is the demonstration
of
his
existence and his power. In the Qur'an several verses deal with Creation.
Creation of the universe
Islam shares with Christianity and Judaism the creation account: God created the world in six days:
“Indeed, your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne, to rule and to regulate every thing� [Quran, 10:3]\
When describing the creation the Qur'an states the existence of an initial gaseous mass in which all the elements are joined together as one unit. It was God who separates everything.
“Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke” [Quran, 41:11]
“The heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them” [Quran, 21:30]
The outcoming of this separation is the shaping of different worlds: “In the name of Allah, the Entirely God” [Quran, 1:1]
“[All] praise is [due] to Allah , Lord of the worlds” [Quran, 1:2] Allah is the creator of the sun and the moon:
“It is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all in an orbit are swimming” [Quran, 21:33] Every living thing was created of water:
“Allah has created every creature from water” [Quran, 24:45]
Creation of man
God moulded water and clay into a model of a man. He breathed life into it and the first man was created:
“Certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump of flesh, and We made from the lump, soft mass and from the soft mass, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators� (cf. 23,12-14)
“When your Lord said to the angels: - Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay! So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My created soul, then fall down to him in prostration-" (Quran, 38,71-72)