Differences Between Monotheistic And Polytheistic Creation Stories

After reading the creation stories from the Abrahamic tradition (Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and John) and Mediterranean/Near Eastern polytheistic traditions (Hesiod, Ovid, “Enuma Elish”), I learned that there are a lot of commonalities and differences between the monotheistic and polytheistic creation stories, basically explaining cultures and how they originated. For example, looking back at the Abrahamic tradition, the creation story shows God as a singular God with omnipotence and that he created the world from scratch in six days and rested on the seventh day. It is also said that God creates human beings in his own image and hands the world (Earth) to them to take control over. Growing up, I was told this in Sunday church school as well.

Looking at the creation stories from various Mediterranean/Near Eastern polytheistic traditions, they talk about ‘multiple’ gods and goddesses who created the world through many different means, and these stories often show the gods and goddesses as very powerful but with character flaws like the huge possibility of war between them, which I personally feel is a human trait because, in modern-day conflict, power stems from within humans. One of the commonalities between these creation stories is the idea of chaos coming before creation because, for example, in the Abrahamic traditions, God created order and everything out of nothingness, which could be interpreted as chaos, and that connects with the polytheistic traditions because the gods also struggled against chaos to create order. One difference I learned while reading these is the relationship between the creator(s) and humans because, as I said earlier, in the Abrahamic tradition, humans are created in God’s image and God hands over the world to