Similarities Between Genesis And Chinese Creation Myths

Improved Essays
A creation myth is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how the people first came to inhabit it. For example, two of them are the Genesis story and the Chinese story. Although the two stories have a great deal of dissimilarities they also have a number of indistinguishable elements. Both creation stories have some things in common. First, in both stories humans were made from the earth. The Chinese story states that Nu Wa sculpted humans from the mud. “From the edge of the pond she took some mud and shaped it in the form of a human being… It took like as she set it on soil”. (Chinese) This evidence is telling how humans were brought to the earth by Nu Wa. In the Genesis tale, god wanted something beautiful so he decided to create

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Creation myth, what thoughts are brought to the mind when these words are said? Is the story itself real, but told behind a lie? Many questions are thrown into perspective when individuals think about the meaning of these words. Native Americans used this type of story telling to put together how everything was brought about in this world today. Creation myth simply means the action of bringing something to existence in a traditional story manner that explains an act from nature.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These creation myths basically tell us a story of the creation of mankind. While one might think these are suppose to be taken literally…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The similarity of the biblical and Navajo creation stories are that in both stories there are the first man and first woman, both of which are made from the earth. Also, all of humanities ancestors eventually leads back to Adam and Eve, the man and woman in the Navajo story had many children, who ad many children, and so on. There are many differences in these stories. There were no "previous worlds" in the Bible as mentioned in this legend.…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Violence In Enuma Elish

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The beginning of the world and human existence have always mystified people. Human nature compels human beings to understand, put things in order, and explain the unexplainable. In ancient times creation stories answered the questions that confounded and bewildered the people living in those societies. Modern science and technology did not exist to help; no scientific experiment could be performed. Ancient societies used myth instead of analysis to answer the questions of existence and purpose; the creation stories were their truths.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mayan Food History

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages

    For example, one myth told by the Mayans in their sacred book, the Popol Vuh, tells about the creation of mankind through their God’s many attempts at creating the human that best fit their needs. The story tells how mankind was first made from mud, but this didn’t work because man could hardly see, hear or walk and were soon washed away. The Mayan gods then made other beings out of wood and these beings were successful for operating but they lacked blood and souls, so they were destroyed. Finally, after much discussion and deliberation, the gods decided to take advantage of the ingredients they had and they added maize to the mixture and made the third generation of humans out of white and yellow ears of maize. The Mayans believed that they descended from this third generation of men and that their wives were created shortly…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With many religions and beliefs, comes a variety of creation stories. Through stories mankind has learned all kinds of lessons as well as where they came from, and these two creation stories are no exception. The similarities and differences between the Iroquois and Judeo-Christian creation stories are uncanny. Genesis 1-4 describes how God made the Earth in technically six days, since he took the seventh day off and made it holy; as well as several unfortunate events that took place involving Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. The creation story perfectly demonstrates their belief in the concept of sin.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I. Description of Proposed Topic and Overview of Background The background of many origin stories is passed down from oral tradition by beginning with Native American origins, Jerimiah Curtin author of Native American Creation Myths states many of the Native American creations stories are unknown on were they originated since many were passed through oral tradition such as the Wintu tribe of California, the Cherokee of Oklahoma, and the Seminoles of Florida tribes. The Wintu tribe describes their creation of the world to begin with a void and the first of the Native Americans had to capabilities to metamorphize and create the world around them. Similar to the Native Americans creation myths, the creation story in Genesis was written by Moses…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Normally, as someone who is highly invested in the idea of science and creation, there is a lack of understanding when it comes to thinking about the different myths of creation. For me, creation all started when a group of molecules happened to join together and eventually evolved into the many organisms that are seen every day. It never occurred to me that there is such a difference between different creation myths. During the first couple of weeks in the semester it became clear that creation is rooted in many cultures in diverse ways.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hesiod 's Theogony and the Book of Genesis, came from two very distinct cultures. Hesiod’s Theogony is the Greek account of the creation of earth and humankind, while The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, which also stands as an account of creation. There are a number of profound similarities and differences between the creation stories contained in Hesiod 's Theogony and the biblical book of Genesis. The similarities and differences between these works may reflect a great cultural similarity between human kind, and can reflect social understandings and interpretations of the outside world.…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The scene surrounding the man and women also had great significance because another of his main focuses of this piece was to depict a scene from the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is the first book in the bible and is the story of God creating all life on earth. The book of Genesis describes the origin of life, which starts with a man and women, Adam and Eve. He surrounds Adam and Eve with many different symbols, which tell a story and create a visual masterpiece that enriches the piece as a whole. Every aspect of the image represents a greater meaning and has a symbolic significance.…

    • 1810 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religions have very distinct differences because every religion has something that another one does not. The differences can even cause conflicts between different religions, even if they are in the same family. Religions also have similarities that can cause feuds to end if people use it in the right way. These religions came from very different places and are influenced by very different things but they both contain the concept of nature worship. You can see these similarities and differences in Shinto and Native American religions if you look at their concept of gods and the rituals they have to worship said gods.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Genesis 1 And 2 Summary

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The water on earth was divided in two, which provided dry and wet land.(Genesis 1:9) On Day 4, the moon , stars, seasons and days was created. (Genesis 1:14) Day 5, Sea creatures and birds in the sky were created and created to reproduce. (Genesis 1:23) Day 6, God made all animals and creatures on land for food. Man was also created. (Genesis 1:27) Man was created to be the dominate creature.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Navajo Creation Story

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Origin Stories A creation story is any story that tells of a creation, these stories can be as specific as the creation of a new invention or they can be as broad as the creation of everything (Creation Story Definition). Many creation stories have points that are very similar and point out that it is very possible that many of these events are true since they are in common. There are also many differences in these stories as well. This paper however is going to detail the similarities and differences between the Native American creation story of the Navajo “Haijiinei” to the creation story of the Bible which is detailed in the book of Genesis.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The stories of Genesis and Popol Vuh attempt to explain the creation of Earth and mankind. Although these stories have many similarities, they do differ in many ways because of the different religions they come from. Right from the beginning there are obvious similarities between the two. They both references a God or multiple Gods who create the world and everything in it including humans.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Genesis 1-11 is the beginning of all things and where God laid the foundation for His creation. Genesis is also the guide to all biblical truth regarding God being the creator of all things. In these specific passages the bible gives us a great picture of where we come from and how we should view the world as God’s creation. It also gives God’s huge role in creating the world and what He did for His people.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays