the creation of Adam

At our meeting on the 11th November we looked a three paintings of the Creation of Adam.

Before looking at the pictures we read the two passages that describe the creation of Adam.

 Genesis 1.26-27. Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind^* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,^* and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind^* in his image,
   in the image of God he created them;^*
   male and female he created them. ²⁷

Genesis 2.7. Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,^* and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

The first was by Michelangelo and was part of the painting on the Sistine Chapel.

The second was by William Blake and was used to illustrate a poem. Elohim Creating Adam.

The third was by Benedict Cambell which was painted in 2003 and was a digital painting which was a reinterpretation of Michelangelo's painting.

We thought about why the artists had chossen to show Adam and God in the ways they had. We looked in particular at the differences in the pictures and what this might say about the artists' ideas about God.