[JenB]

Interesting article. Personally, I believe that the Babylonian and Egyptian creation myths are distorted versions of the true story. I don't see any reason why there couldn't have been a Hebrew oral tradition before and after the 'pagan' versions were recorded. I've gotten in trouble for holding this theory in a couple of college world history courses, but it seems plausible to me.

[Texan5]

In the late Joseph Campbell's PBS series "Man and Myth", this theory was gone into in depth. I greatly enjoyed that series (we are Catholic), but my husband has not had the opportunity to see it, and would like to. Does anyone here know if there is a place where I can get the videotapes?

[Jeremy_Bentham]

I don't see any reason why there couldn't have been a Hebrew oral tradition before and after the 'pagan' versions were recorded.

You would have to consider when the Hebrews, or Isrealites, actually came into being, which would have been after these "pagan" cultures were already established in Egypt, the Chaldees, Greece, etc. and had developed many of their myths. Consider that Abraham came from the Ur of the Chaldees, which was a thriving culture long before the Isrealites became as numberless as the stars.