Seven Surprises of the Bible's Creation Story

Name: Seven Surprises of the Bible's Creation Story
Rating: 4.8 (20 reviews)

Expand your understanding and grow your spirit.

Created byDan Ehrenkrantz

Last updated 4/2016

English

What you'll learn

At the end of my course, students will be able to find their way back to the Garden of Eden and eat from the Tree of Life. Okay, that's hyperbole, but it's closer to the truth than anything else I could think of in describing this course.
The "secrets" referred to in the title of this course are hiding in plain sight. After taking the course you will never read the first three chapters of Genesis in the same way.
Stories about origins are also stories that attempt to tell us something about where we are going. This course provides insights into how the Bible understands who we are and where we are going.
Regardless of religious belief or perspective, these insights into human life are both profound and exciting.

Course content

1 section • 16 lectures • 51m total length

Introduction2:01
Present one interpretation of the creation stories, not authoritative or sole, and invite other perspectives. Note that Hebrew gendered language for God is non-central to this course.
The First Secret3:29
The creation story reveals that God speaks light into being on the first day, establishing day and night, while the first secret reveals a hidden light beyond sun and stars.
The Location of the Garden3:07
Examine how the Garden of Eden’s location is linked to four rivers—the petion, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates—yet no place where they meet, signaling a myth with timeless truths.
The Creation of Human Beings Part 12:37
Explore how God creates humanity in Genesis 1 and 2. Compare two creation stories and note differences in image, male and female, and rule over every living creature.
The Creation of Human Beings Part 21:05
Examine two Genesis creation accounts, comparing human formation and the timing of the creation of man and woman, highlighting differences in God's image and companionship.
The Creation of Human Beings Part 34:22
The lecture contrasts two creation stories, Adam one and Adam two, highlighting loneliness, different charges—be fruitful and rule versus work and care for the garden—and the distinct relationships between sexes.
The Creation of Human Beings Part 43:05
Explore how two creation stories reveal distinct aspects of human nature—from Adam one’s image of God and be fruitful and multiply to Adam two’s garden work and mortality.
Two Parts of Human Nature3:17
Balance the two parts of human nature—Adam one’s subduing the earth and Adam two’s work and care—to guide how we relate to natural resources and technology.
The First Three Secrets
Eating the Fruit4:19
Explore how the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil signals Adam and Eve's coming into independent will, not magic, and why the act of eating reveals their choice.
From Unity to Duality9:54
From unity to duality, this lecture explains how awakening independence through the tree triggers dualistic thinking of good and bad, mind and body, life and death.
Secrets Four and Five
How Many Trees?4:50
Explore the idea that the tree of life and the tree of knowledge are one in the middle of the garden, and that unity arises from duality and individuality.
The Sixth Secret
Fun With Sevens2:18
Engage in a playful word-count study of the Genesis seventh day, tracing seven-word clauses that frame rest, blessing, and holiness across verses for fun.
From the Zohar3:13
The Zohar reads the opening words brai sheet Bara Elohim as a creation that occurs within God, reframing the created world as unfolding from deity.
Conclusion Part 11:14
Read the creation story as myth conveying timeless truths, highlighting human impulses to conquer and nurture the earth, and the birth of independence through the tree of knowledge.
Conclusion Part 22:25
Explore how independence produces duality and loneliness, then reveals true independence within conscious unity in one grand whole, recognizing the dual truth of independence and unity in creation.
Goodbye0:38
Thank you for taking the seven surprises of the Bible's creation story course; I have enjoyed presenting this material and hope you gained fresh insights into biblical text.

Requirements

Students should bring their critical faculties along with an open mind and an open heart. No prior background is necessary.
No particular beliefs are necessary for a student to gain from this course. Students of any and all beliefs are welcome. Students who are new to the Bible and students who know the Bible well will gain equally from this course.

Description

This course provides a deep-dive into elements of the Garden of Eden story, a story that has had a profound influence on our culture. The foundational stories we tell remain the same; how we understand those stories changes over the course of our lives. Learning a new way to understand this foundational story provides new possibilities for our future.

Gain insights into who you are and into the unfolding of human life.

· At the end of this course, students will be able to find their way back to the Garden of Eden and eat from the Tree of Life. Okay, that's hyperbole, but it's closer to the truth than anything else I could think of in describing this course.

· Stories about origins are also stories that attempt to tell us something about where we are going. This course provides insights into how the Bible understands who we are and where we are going.

· Regardless of your religious beliefs or perspective, these insights into human life are both profound and exciting.

Learn seven secrets that are embedded within the first three chapters of the Bible.

Anyone interested in gaining new insights into the foundations of our culture should take this course. ###b/b###Atheists and religious fundamentalists alike will be enriched by this course without having their core commitments challenged.

If you are NOT open to new Biblical interpretations you should not take this course.

If you have been influenced or intrigued by both Western and Eastern religious thought, this course might help provide a bridge between those two worlds. And if you have a clear preference for either Eastern or Western thought, you will also enjoy what this course offers.

I guarantee that there will be something new for every student, no matter how familiar you are with this material. If every perspective and insight offered in this course is familiar to you, I encourage you to request a course refund.

Contents and Overview

This course consists of X NUMBER lectures. The seven secrets are revealed one at a time through a close examination of the Biblical text.

The course is designed to speak to the novice and the expert, to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, whomever.

The texts under examination will be provided on screen. No additional materials are necessary.

At the end of the course your understanding of, and appreciation for, the Bible’s creation story will be transformed.

Who this course is for:

Anyone interested in re-reading the Biblical creation story and gaining new insights into the foundations of our culture should take this course. This course is not seeking to change anyone's beliefs or core commitments. Atheists and religious fundamentalists alike will be enriched by this course without having their core commitments challenged.
If you are NOT open to new Biblical interpretations you should not take this course.
If you have been influenced or intrigued by both Western and Eastern religious thought, this course might help provide a bridge between those two worlds.
And if you have a clear preference for either Eastern or Western thought, you will also enjoy what this course offers.