Two Creation Stories in Genesis

I remember one day as I read the second chapter of Genesis, I realized creation was starting all over again.  In chapter one, God created all of the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh.  And then without warning beginning in Genesis 2:4, a whole new version of the creation was unfolded before me.

I began noticing that the name of God had changed from the first chapter to the second.  I noticed a lot was different...and then I remembered what I learned about there being different writers in the book of Genesis, but in my training I had never heard how those different writers fit into the Book of Genesis.

I wasn't convinced that different people wrote Genesis, and I am still not convinced.  The reason I am not convinced is because I believe that the creation stories were handed down to the author of Genesis via oral tradition.  It was passed down in story form by word of mouth for years and years, from generations to generation. 

In the ancient times, writing and reading were not that popular, in fact, very few people could read and write.  But ancient societies were filled with spoken stories, proverbs and laws.  Israel may have had more people reading than other societies, but not by much.  They still depended mostly upon speech for their stories of the beginnings of things.

Even in Jesus' day, there were laws and commentaries on the laws that were never written down, but passed down verbally from generation to generation.  Many people believed that these laws originated from Moses himself, and were every bit as authoritative as the written Law of Moses.

DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS

I did discover that there was pretty much agreement among scholars (Conservative and Liberal) that there were two accounts of creation.  However, the interpretations among different people differ.

1.  The Conservative side states that God created everything in chapter one, but goes over the same event in chapter two in finer detail, focusing more on Adam and Eve, and the animals.

2.  A second view says that whoever wrote the book of Genesis (not necessarily Moses), wrote two completely different stories that were popular in his day.  Neither one had connection with the other.

I am sure that there are other views out there, but these two explanations are good enough for now.