Asher Sisneros

Genesis and Theogony are two stories about the origins of creation. It’s the great Hebrew/Christian origin story clashing with Ancient Greece. An important side note is that the Hebrews were monotheistic and only believed in one God. The Greeks were polytheistic and believed in many gods. Nobody can believe both accounts since they are contrary to each other. This essay will address some of the key differences between Genesis and Theogony.

            First, who wrote each book? Moses wrote Genesis, but the Christian tradition and the Bible state that it was under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In other words, God moved Moses to write Genesis. Given the Divine influence on the manuscript, it’s concluded that Genesis is the infallible word of God since God wrote it through Moses. Similarly, Hesiod said that Zeus’ daughters, the Muses, told him what to write. The difference is that, unlike the God of the Bible, the Muses lied occasionally. This distinction is important as it lays fundamental differences between the two religions. I will address this in further detail later. Jehovah is supposed to be the standard of truth and incapable of lying or doing wrong.

            Both Theogony and Genesis discuss how everything was created.

            In Genesis, the universe was dark and void. There was nothing except God. Over six days, he made light, all the planets, the ocean, land, plants, birds, fish, all animals, and a man to govern it all. The name of the man was Adam. His duty was to be God’s representative to the rest of the world and tend to it like a steward. One of his first tasks included naming all of the animals. When doing so, Adam became lonely because he realized there wasn’t another animal adequate to be his helper. All of the other animals had companions, but none of the animals looked like Adam. So, God made a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he took one of Adam’s ribs. A woman was made with that rib.

            Those two people became the originators of all human life.  God told them to eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden, except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was their one rule. As time had it, a serpent from heaven walked on the earth. He was cunning and deceitful and persuaded Adam and Eve to eat the fruit anyway. Thus, they broke God’s one law. As punishment, sin entered the world. Through the consumption of that one fruit, death, disease, plague, and pain entered the earth. This was the fall of man.

            In Theogony, nothing existed except Chaos. Chaos created the female god, Earth, and Night. Earth used her powers to make a son named Heaven, but she made him her equal. She took Heaven as her husband and they bore many other gods. Some of them were the Cyclops, and others, the multi-headed gods, who Heaven hated. When the multi-headed gods were born, he took them and hid them deep inside of Earth. Earth became distraught and made a sickle. Then she asked her children which one of them was willing to challenge their father, Heaven. All of her children were scared, except Cronos. Cronos accepted her challenge to get revenge on Heaven. Earth invited Heaven to her bed. The two had intercourse. As Heaven was on top of her, Earth screamed out for Cronos, and Cronos revealed himself holding the sickle. With rage, he grabbed Heaven’s testicles and cut them off, castrating his father. In the process, Cronos established his rule, freed the other Titans (descendants of Earth and Heaven), and supplanted his father as the most powerful god. All of the gods married and gave birth to other gods. Theogony states that is how everything in the universe came to exist. Night, Earth’s sister, gave birth to multiple curses on mankind including Doom, Death, Sleep, Blame, and Deceit.

            Cronos was the father of multiple gods. Earth prophesied that one of his sons was going to overthrow him. In a manner, Cronos was going to suffer from karma. One of his sons was going to treat him the same way he treated Heaven. Rhea was Cronos’ wife. Every time she gave birth, Cronos took the baby and swallowed it, trapping it inside of his stomach. She conceived another child whom she named Zeus. However, instead of giving the child to Cronos, she hid him and gave Cronos a rock covered in baby clothes. Oblivious, Cronos ate the rock. Zeus grew up, became very strong, and fulfilled the prophecy. In a series of events, he and his fellow gods waged a ten-year war with the Titans. Eventually, they won and Zeus established his throne.

            Prometheus was a cunning god. He stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortal men. Zeus didn’t punish Prometheus, though. Instead, he punished humans. Zeus made a woman and gave it to men as a curse.

            There is one similarity between Genesis and Theogony. In both accounts, there is nothing in the universe except an extremely powerful being. All of creation comes as a result of that original god. That’s when the differences become drastic. As I alluded to earlier, the gods in Theogony weren’t honest and just. Almost all of them fought and tried to kill each other. Heaven and Cronus hated their children. But the Hebrew God of Genesis is said to love His children and to be the originator of all goodness. The Bible says that men have good attributes because they are made in His image and in the likeness of God. Secondly, death, disease, plague, strife, etc., are all negative repercussions of man’s sin in Genesis, whereas Theogony says those curses were created before men. As Dr. Gary North put it, “Men inherited a corrupt world.” The opposite is true in Genesis; men inherited a perfect world, but we corrupted it. Finally, there’s the issue of women. In Theogony, they are a deadly curse to men, but Genesis says they are a helper and blessing.  

            In conclusion, Genesis and Theogony are drastically different. They both talk about how everything was created, but I think Genesis’ account is far more persuasive. Yes, I am biased given my Christian heritage, but so be it. Some may worship the god of thunder, but I worship the God who made thunder.