Mark G. Brett is Professor of Old Testament at Whitley College, Melbourne. He is the editor of Ethnicity and the Bible (1996) and the author of Biblical Criticism in Crisis (1991).

Introduction: the contest of methods1 Genesis 1-11: creation and dominance 2 Genesis 12-25: the making of nations 3 Genesis 26-36: on tricksters 4 Genesis 37-50: reasons of state 5 Whose Genesis? Which orthodoxy?

Combining insights from social and literary theory as well as traditional historical studies, Mark Brett argues that the first book of the Bible can be read as resistance literature.
Placing the theological text firmly within its socio-political context, he shows that the editors of Genesis were directly engaged with contemporary issues, especially the nature of an authentic community, and that the book was designed to undermine the ethnocentism of the imperial governors of the Persian period (fifth century BCE).