Minute Paper 9.22.15

Today we used a concept map to analyze Coogan’s main arguments regarding the relationships between Enuma elish, Gilgamesh, and Genesis. We think Coogan argues that Near Eastern texts inform one’s understanding of Genesis because they establish social and theological context. We realize that these texts most likely influenced the Priestly and Yahweh writers in Genesis, and provided background knowledge and beliefs as the first people began reading Biblical texts. We also looked at 4 different types of questions: knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis, and we practiced using specific types of questions to dig deeper into the text.