Does Genesis Just Borrow From Ancient Egyptian Myths?

Dr. Craig comments on the often errant claims of the origins of motifs found in Genesis 1-11. You can watch the entire interview here: https://youtu.be/9kn8z0Plvhw

QUESTION: You arrive at the conclusion that what you read about in Genesis differs significantly from the other proto-myths, say the Egyptian or the Babylonian account. I’d love for you to talk a little bit about that because I just thought that was so significant – the biblical history is heading in a completely different direction with completely different purposes.

DR. CRAIG: Thank you for that, Jeff. I'm afraid that my claim that Genesis 1-11 is mytho-history will be eclipsed by a much longer discussion in the book that these stories in Genesis 1-11 are not based on or derived from myths of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Frankly, as I worked on this subject, I was scandalized by the sloppiness of so many of our Old Testament scholars and commentators in thinking that. Just, for example, because in Egyptian mythology primordial darkness is mentioned, therefore that means that Genesis 1:1 is borrowing from these Egyptian myths. You've got to do a lot more to show literary dependence than just find parallels plucked out of context. When you look at myths throughout the world, the motif of primordial darkness is everywhere in ancient myths! In the South Sea Island Pacific myths, in South American and North American Indian myths. And yet it would be absurd to say that the author of Genesis 1 borrowed this motif from them. So there's a lot of real sloppiness here that needs to be corrected with respect to the degree to which Genesis 1-11 is dependent upon ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian myths.