Eleven different stories about the origin of the world, for children aged six and up, from different religions, from Japan to Scandinavia. At the beginning of the book, a map provides an overview of the places of origin of the 11 creation stories. Each story is told by a different narrator in concise, child-friendly language. At the beginning of each story there is a small block of information for the reader about the cultural and religious origins of the text.
Two brothers ask each other important questions one evening: How are the stars positioned in the sky? Why is there day and night? To find the answers, they go on a magical journey with their father to different cultures and religions. They learn about the origin myths of Shintoism and Taoism, as well as the South Asian stories of the Jain and Hindu traditions or the creation story of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that we know so well. For the team of editors of the Centre for Religious Studies (CERES) at the University of Bochum, it is also important to present histories of historical religious traditions, e.g. from ancient Egypt, Babylon Mesopotamia or Greek mythology. The common tradition of the Abrahamic religions Judaism/Christianity/Islam is summarised here in the familiar creation story 'How the world came into being in six days'. It is here that the primordial question arises from which all religions, but also all sciences, were born: how did our world come into being? In this book, scientists tell stories in a way that is suitable for children, with the intention of opening their eyes to the variety of religions in the world and their different stories of the creation of the world.