In the late Victorian era, a masterful analysis of the bible was compiled by the top English scholars of the Western tradition. This is called the Cambridge Bible Commentary.
These men were quite reverent about Christian values and traditions, although they were completely rational and honest about contradictions and mistakes in the bible. They tended to see the bible as a very important historical document that informed western traditions, although not some infallible book of truth that modern christians, especially americans, tend to believe.
It is EXTREMELY enlightening to read their analysis. These men were scholars who were fluent in the Hebrew language, and studied texts from all of the ancient traditions. Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, they studied them all, including other jewish texts, and jewish culture generally as it existed in biblical times. Examining the bible through their eyes puts everything into proper context.
If you want to get access to it, just go here:
>https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/1.htmIn the following posts, I will explain some things that this commentary says about Genesis 1.
