The Universal Story

The opening chapters of Genesis tell the story of how humans relate to the world—and to God.

Genesis 1-11 is a parade of humanity's stories intertwined with the most intriguing subjects wrestled with today: the beginning of the cosmos, the nature of humanity, family, sex, deceit, death, murder, mass murder, ecology, agriculture, urbanization, and more.

In The Universal Story, Dru Johnson shows how Genesis 1-11 is written in a way that informs the rest of biblical history—including the exodus, the kings of Israel, the exile, the Gospels, and early church. Genesis 1-11 presents a story of humanity that seeks to explain the background of every human endeavor. It is the universal story—the story of stories—because it is a story about how all of these things came to be the way the Hebrews understood them to be. These bizarre and ancient stories frame the story of God and His plan for earth and humanity.

Dru Johnson (Ph.D. University of Saint Andrews-Scotland) is an associate professor of biblical and theological studies at The King's College in New York City. He currently serves as the co-chair for the Hebrew Bible and Philosophy program unit in the Society of Biblical Literature. He teaches regularly in Western Kenya in a school for rural pastors and is currently ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.