[[Image:Creation of the sun.JPG|right|thumb|250px|''Creation of the Sun'', by [[Michelangelo]]]]
'''Genesis''' [Hebrew: '''בראשית'''] ([[Greek language|Greek]]: "birth", "origin"), is the "book of beginnings" and the first book of the [[Bible]].<ref>Genesis is also the first book of the [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[Torah]]. The Hebrew for Genesis is בראשית.</ref> ''Genesis'' recounts the beginning of the [[universe]], living things including [[homo sapiens|mankind]], and [[Society|social]]/[[Culture|cultural]] formations. It stands as the introduction of the entire Bible, and ''Genesis'' promises the coming [[Jesus Christ|Redeemer]]. It , provides explanations for modern scientific phenomena, such as [[quantum mechanics]] (creation was amid underlying chaos) and the dichotomy between light and matter (created on different days), and is a wellspring of [[Biblical scientific foreknowledge]] such as performing an operation under anesthesia-like sleep ({{bible ref|Genesis|2|21}}). '''''Many Genesis answers many questions about life and the universe are answered by the Book of Genesis'''''.
There are many dozens of references to ''Genesis '' in the [[New Testament]], including direct quotations of Genesis by [[Jesus]]. Many books, movies and plays (e.g., ''[[East of Eden]]'' and ''[[Hamlet]]'') draw upon Genesisand particularly its [[paradise]]. Rock groups, too, such as "[[Genesis (band)|Genesis]]" itself.
The Hebrew word for God is plural, and the creation of man was by a plural form of God ({{bible ref|Genesis |1:|26}}: "And God said, 'Let '''us''' make man in '''our''' image, after '''our''' likeness'"). The meaning of the plural form was not fully understood until the emergence of Christianity and the acceptance of the [[Holy Trinity]].<ref>http://www.bible.ca/trinity/trinity-oneness-unity-plural-nouns-pronouns-verbs-adverbs.htm</ref> The Book of Genesis also contains a wonderful Theophany of the Three Divine Persons appearing to men in visible forms, that of the Three Persons in {{bible ref|Genesis |18}}.<ref>It is said the Lord God appeared to Abraham, then that he perceived The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity as Three Men. He adored Them And yet spoke to Three Persons as to One Lord God, and thus the Holy Bible here clearly demonstrates that the Holy Trinity is One Lord God. Gen 18:1: "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,3 And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:"
<br>In the Eastern Liturgies, it is commonly taken for granted that this was a Theophany (a visible manifestation of the invisible God). For e.g "God in Three Persons appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mambre, and through mercy he was given as reward for his hospitality Isaac. That God we now glorify him as God of our Fathers." Octoechos, Sunday, Tone 3, Midnight Office, Ode 7. [https://www.academia.edu/13190369/The_Early_Christian_Reception_of_Genesis_18_From_Theophany_to_Trinitarian_Symbolism]</ref>
==Authorship==
''See also [[Genesis authorship]]''.<br>Biblical tradition within and without the [[Old Testament]], [[Jesus]] in the [[New Testament]], as well as extra-Biblical writers such as [[Josephus]], [[Origen]], the early church fathers and many others, have claimed [[Moses]] as the author of Genesis, written during the time of the [[Hebrew]] wanderings in the Wilderness, between 1440-1400 B.C. Certainly, Moses was well able to have written Genesis in Hebrew, [[Akkadian]], or Egyptian. He was well -educated and trained in the Egyptian court. [[Archaeology]] demonstrates that such a man would have the education necessary to accomplish this during that time in history.<ref>Unger, pp. 35-35</ref>
The higher critical view is that Moses did not write Genesis. Some biblical scholars identified five separate authors of the five '"books of Moses'."<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_tora.htm Who Wrote The Pentateuch, The Five Books of Moses?]</ref><ref>[http://lectionary.org/EXEG-English/OT/EOT01-Gen/Authorship-Genesis%20&%20Pentateuch.html Introduction to Genesis & the Pentateuch]</ref> This idea is called the ''Documentary Hypothesis''. Although unidentified, each of these authors has been given the name of a letter:
* J who calls God ''YHWH'' (the ''Jehovist'' account), and who possibly wrote in the south of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], written c. 850 B.C.
* E who uses ''Elohim'' ('the gods', 'the spirits') as God's name, and possibly wrote in [[Ephraim]], written c. 750 B.C.