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PLEASE READ CAREFULLY TO THE ENTIRE INSTRUCTIONS. DO NOT SKIM THE INSTRUCTIONS TO GET THE GENERAL IDEA. PLEASE.

Comparing Creations Guidelines

In this writing assignment, you will choose and compare two creation narratives that

were assigned in class.

What to choose?

To start, choose one creation narrative of those assigned for class that you found the

most interesting. For the second creation narrative, try to pick one you feel you can

compare and contrast with the first. There are no further restrictions.

The available narratives to choose from include: The Memphite Theology, Pyramid

Text 571, Coffin Text 76, Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, Against Toothache, The Lovely Gods,

The Song of Kumarbi, Genesis 1:12:4a, Genesis 2:4b4:16, Genesis 6:99:17, Psalm

104, and Job 38:141:34.

What to consider?

1. When choosing your narratives, make sure you choose two that you feel you

can read, research, and write about! Pick ones that are interesting to you.

2. Be conscious of the contexts of the narratives you chose and be ready to

research and write about them.

3. However, you dont need to do extensive research on both narratives (people

have written entire books on, for example, the Enuma Elish or the creations in

Genesis), but be familiar with their origins, the geographical and temporal

contexts of usage, and other details that will allow you to discuss the function

of the texts in your comparison.

4. Review JZ Smiths The End of Comparison: Redescription and Rectification

in preparation for this essay. Unless you are specifically engaging with Smiths

discussion of comparison for whatever reason, you should not quote or cite his

idea of the process of comparison.

5. If you do not include the description and comparison of two texts from the list

above, 20 points will be deducted from the overall grade for this assignment.

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What to write?

In this, you should consider and utilize the method of comparison suggested by

Jonathan Z. Smith in The End of Comparison: Redescription and Rectification,

which involves a thick description of the narratives and a contextualization of the

particular texts. You will need to do some background research on the narratives you

have chosen and discuss those contexts and the potential function of the narratives.

Go beyond secondary texts assigned for class readings; I suggest that you use the

Reading List document as a starting point.

In your comparison, be specific. How is creation envisioned in the narrative (physical?

procreative? out of nothing?)? What are the natures and roles of the things created?

Who are the main players? What are their roles and relationships? This is not an

exhaustive list, but a starting point to come up with other questions.

Discuss the similarities and differences between the narratives. Highlight whether you

are looking at two narratives from the same culture or from different cultures, their

time periods, and the implications of that relationship.

What is the format?

This paper must be at least 3 pages (750 words) in length. Make sure to include page numbers. As this is a formal paper,

avoid using I statements and keep in mind your grammar and syntax.

Ensure everything is properly cited using either the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th

edition. This includes both in-text/footnote citations (with

page numbers for both quotations and paraphrasing) and a separate section at the end

with a Bibliography (this does not count towards the page or word

limit). Any usage of Generative AI MUST be mentioned in a disclaimer about how and

why you used it at the end of your Bibliography.