The Shinto vs. Genesis Creation Story

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“And God said let there be light, and there was light…” according to the Genesis story, an entity which bears no tangible face or bodily structure created the world with nothing more than a swift tongue. It bore the shape of the earth, the plentiful bounty of the soil, the beauty of animals, and the wonder known as humanity all within the time span of seven days. It created the notion of societal law, moral principle, and a reverence for a deity by loyal subjects. And it instituted a harsh rule of law which instigated the idea that if any part of you, mind or body, were to disobey it, you would be punished in the now and in the after. Nonetheless, the Christian telling of how our world came to be, although following a path negligent of the idea of a multilateral approach to understanding God, seems to carry some similarities to that of Shintoism. Or differences? The Shinto creation story is a work of art in and of itself, not to mention it takes on the idea that multiple humanoid deities, not an unidentified mass of spiritual benevolence, created this world. In addition, we take on a different approach to creation, in which rather than things being born out of spoken word, our world was actually artistically created by two master creators of land and sea, Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto . First, let us analyze the particulars of the Christian Genesis story as to begin formulating the basis of comparison and contrast. We shall look at the two parts of Genesis, the first discussing the formulation of earth and its inner particulars, in concert with the first few verses associated with the second part of Genesis, which touches on the creation of the first man and woman: “Light is commanded to appear… the light is divided ... ... middle of paper ... ...ase of the world of Christians, who view God as a supreme being bound to a code of law which serves to protect their interests and ensure that their life is respected and continued. Works Cited 1) New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Corporation, 2001. Print. 2) Shimazono, Susumu. 2005. "State Shinto and the Religious Structure of Modern Japan." Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion 73, no. 4: 1077-1098. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 23, 2012). 3) Rutgers University, "Genesis." Accessed April 21, 2012. http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/genesis.html. 4) "Shinto." BBC News. BBC. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. . 5) Leeming, David Adams. 2010. Creation Myths of the World : An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 21, 2012).

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