Genesis offers few consistent doctrines. Its teachings are frequently contradictory. What, for example, does it tell us about God? That he is omnipotent but powerless to control humanity; omniscient but ignorant of human yearning; creative but a destroyer; benevolent but a killer; wise but arbitrary; just but partial and unfair. Genesis points out that, as the most eminent monotheists have since emphasized, we cannot understand God or predict his behavior. The sacred reality must always remain an ineffable mystery which fills us with dread but exerts a ceaseless attraction. Our world is beautiful, baffling, and tragic.
— Karen Armstrong, In the Beginning