Unlike any other stories in our culture, those in the book of Genesis confront us with provoking scenes of love and death, stark allegiances and subtle betrayals. At first glance, these narratives may seem straightforward, but as we reread and delve more deeply into them they begin to resonate with new meaning and they force us to reexamine our understanding of the social, ethical, and political landscape in which we live.

But in the beginning were the writers of the stories. Over the centuries, the morals and meanings that traditional readings have attached to the stories of Genesis effectively obscured the contemporary culture that produced them. Even experts and commentators have tended to miss the point: they all agree that Genesis is special, but the question of why the book was written has never properly addressed.

Now, for the first time, twenty of our leading literary lights - novelists, poets, dramatists, and essayists - turn their attention to a particular story in Genesis and comment on it from the perspective of the storyteller. Together, they begin to discover the imaginative sensibilities of the ancient writer, as the very motivations of the biblical authors and their characters come to light.

The result is a stunningly realized literary collection that will forever change they way you read the Bible's first stories.