To quote the flyleaf from Robert Alter's translation of Genesis which we will use in class: "Genesis begins with the making of heaven and earth and all life, and ends with the image of a mummy—Jesus—in a coffin. In between come many of the primal stories in Western culture: Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Cain's murder of Abel, Noah and the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham's binding of Isaac, the covenant of God and Abraham, the saga of Joseph and his brothers. These are stories we attend to through our lives, for their beauty, their emotional resonance, their philosophical weight, and their sacredness. They connect us with one another and with generations to come."