A few thoughts:
The separate creation myths of Genesis 1 and 2 are probably reflective of two different traditions that were incorporated into Jewish theology, each evolving to possess their own significance. For example, one may have been viewed as the creation of mankind in general, while the other specifically related the original progenitors of the Hebrews. Philo of Alexandria, for example, considered Genesis 1 to represent the creation of the Platonic Ideas whereas Genesis 2 related their manifestation into a multiplicity of material objects. He also ascribed to an allegorical interpretation of the seven days by reading Pythagorean number theory into them.
That's not to say that there haven't always been literalists who mistake the symbolism of the myth for (un)factual description, but that is a deeply impoverished reading of the text that misses the philosophical or theological ideas concealed beneath the surface, in much the same way that underlying Plato's Timaeus or Ovid's Metamorphoses are a wealth of possible metaphysical or moral considerations to explore.
The separate creation myths of Genesis 1 and 2 are probably reflective of two different traditions that were incorporated into Jewish theology, each evolving to possess their own significance. For example, one may have been viewed as the creation of mankind in general, while the other specifically related the original progenitors of the Hebrews. Philo of Alexandria, for example, considered Genesis 1 to represent the creation of the Platonic Ideas whereas Genesis 2 related their manifestation into a multiplicity of material objects. He also ascribed to an allegorical interpretation of the seven days by reading Pythagorean number theory into them.
That's not to say that there haven't always been literalists who mistake the symbolism of the myth for (un)factual description, but that is a deeply impoverished reading of the text that misses the philosophical or theological ideas concealed beneath the surface, in much the same way that underlying Plato's Timaeus or Ovid's Metamorphoses are a wealth of possible metaphysical or moral considerations to explore.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
