One of the my most memorable classes of Freshman Bible at my private christian high school was the class that we discussed Genesis 1 and 2. Which version is correct is what our teacher told us to answer. After over an hour of 17 high school freshmen arguing, we were no closer to finding an answer than any scholar has ever been. After rereading these books for the first time in over six years, I still have no definitive answer. I do know that there are many similarities and differences between the book. The most glaring difference that jumps out at me is the way that woman is portrayed and her role in Adam's life. In G1, she is an equal and made at the same time as Adam. In G2, woman is an after thought created to help Adam. Just this one difference makes me know that G1 & G2 were written by two very different people. I find it hard to believe that the same person could have written so different of versions of creation. One point that does point in the favor of there being only one writer for Genesis is that it is often hard to tell where one book should truly end. For example, Genesis 1 actually ends at Genesis 2:5. This problem will continue throughout most of the Bible, at least in my experience with it. A point of interest that I noticed in Genesis 1 is that in line 26 God refers to himself in the plural tense. No where else in that book does her refer to himself in the plural tense.
Side-note:Lately I have been fascinated with Greek mythology. I am currently rereading the Iliad in my spare time. That led me to notice in Genesis 2:11, that the name of the first river is Pison, which is similar to Poseidon. This may be stretching things a bit but it was the first thing that jumped to my mind when I read this verse so I thought it was worth noting even though it is very off topic.
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