First Light

G.R. EVANS is Professor Emeritus of Medieval Theology and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Her many books include Belief: A Short History for Today (2006), The Church in the Early Middle Ages (2007), The University of Cambridge: A New History(2009) and The University of Oxford: A New History (2010), published by I.B.Tauris.

'It may seem that the question of human origins has never been more controversial than today. But in this informative and elegantly written book, G.R. Evans shows how there have always been competing narratives of how the world began and about the significance of human existence. With wide-ranging scholarship and an engaging style, she offers an intriguing and thought-provoking exploration of a set of perennial questions.' - Peter Harrison, Director, Centre for the History of European Discourses, University of Queensland, formerly Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion 'In First Light G.R. Evans offers a lively survey of scores of explanations of the creation of the world across periods, continents, and disciplines. She covers Eastern as well as Western religions, "primitive" myths, scientific explanations, and philosophical assessments. She continually shows unexpected similarities. But she finally gives a reluctant "no" to the question whether, as Eliot's character Casaubon in Middlemarch asked, there is a single "key to all mythologies". This is a delightful work.' - Robert A. Segal, Sixth Century Professor of Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen, author of Myth: A Very Short Introduction and Theorizing About Myth

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroductionPART I The universe begins 1. Disagreements about first principles i. When did the world begin?ii. Is the universe ‘real’ ?iii. What is the lay-out of the cosmos?iv. In God’s image? Was the world made for our benefit?PART II. Why it is difficult to agree2. What is the evidence?3. The great rival religious theoriesi. Polytheismsii. Monotheisms iii. Dualisms4. Choosing an approachi. Classical philosophyii. The early Christian theological synthesisiii. Just ‘saying’ the world5. Going to seei. Out of Africaii. Redrawing the world-picture: new continents iii. Filling the empty hemisphereiv. Fact and fictionv. Created unequal?Part III The main competing explanations 6. The beginning of the world: a one-off event?i. One creation complete and perfectii. A single but imperfect creationiii. A single event with errors but capable of modification?7. Creation as a system: initiation followed by a process of planned development?i. A process with built-in mechanisms for improvement?ii. Creation as a system with Creator as supervisor?iii. The ‘phoenix’ theory of creation8. The search for a keyi. Is there a single underlying methodology?ii. Can ‘comparative religion’ provide a unifying principle?iii. Looking inward for an answerConclusion NotesTexts and AbbreviationsSelect BibliographyIndex