innovation in a world where pantheistic religion more closely resembles a super-powered family that doesn't get along very well. The Egyptian god Re may have been self-created, but he is by no means all-powerful, and not at all the only of his kind. Marduk is a warrior who can defeat primordial serpents, but the Hebrew god has but to speak: "...and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast." Psalms, 33:9 The word of God is all-powerful.. And here we begin to see our greatest departures. We have a monotheistic religion, the first of its kind, created amidst a culture that, in the case of the Babylonians, has up to fifty gods!14 Not only is there but one god, but he is all-powerful, so much so that he does not find it necessary to wrestle with nature or defeat mighty primordial gods. He simply speaks and it is done. It is our first occurrence of divine will impose upon the world. Furthermore, it is a god without a precursor, without creation. He is something apart from this world. Tiamat and Apsu lived in a world already created (and by whom?); the Egyptian gods have a multitude of births of gods in their texts15. In fact, there was once a debate on the translation of a single verb in the Bible, "bara", meaning "to create". Later translations modify this to "bero", meaning "to create from nothing". When written in Hebrew, only careful scrutiny would distinguish the two. The distinction is important, however, because it changes the implications involved in creating. Does God create the world from something or nothing? In the following passage, "When God began to create heaven and earth- the earth being a desolate waste, with darkness upon the abyss and the spirit of God hovering over the waters- God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light." it is inferred that God is creating with something. The next translation, "When God began to create the heaven and earth, the earth was a desolate waste and darkness was upon the abyss and the spi...
