The Bible that is the basis for this analysis is comprised of the sixty-six books, out of many inspired texts, that are canonical to all traditions and denominations of the Christian faith. These sixty-six books are divided into the Old Testament of thirty-nine books and the New Testament of twenty-seven books. After these sixty-six were authoritatively agreed upon by the early church and declared a canon, their content could not be revised or edited further. They are the basis of the Christian faith. Other books could not be added to them, nor could any of them be deleted. Their sequence was set in place. Accordingly, all Bibles begin with the book of Genesis.
The opening story of Genesis is a cosmology—a creation account of the origin of the heavens and the earth. The first chapter of the Bible is the only one of its kind in 1,189 chapters of the entire sixty-six-book canon. Its uniqueness sets it apart from the rest. Yet in any well-crafted literary work, the major themes to be developed throughout are subtly woven in its opening pages. From this underpinning, the rest of the story unfolds without loss of concept, building to the final pages, where it culminates in a cogent, satisfying conclusion. Since the Bible is read as one over-arching story, then this unique creation account should hold the key to the structural organization of the entire biblical story line. What subtle themes could be in the opening narrative of Genesis that would fundamentally connect it to the rest of the biblical narratives? Could these themes woven throughout the Bible create the tapestry of the canon?
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