This and other similar episodes in Coats' life brought him face to face with his own temporality, and of course with studying the Holy Bible to understand God, creation, and a possible afterlife. InOriginal Sinners, he attempts to characterize the lives of biblical people in light of his own personality. He fleshes out their words and plight so they feel and express the same emotions he, like the rest of us, must deal with today: love, hate, sorrow, pathos, courage, humor, irony, trust and guilt.

In the beginning Original Sinners lets one imagine in a rather humorous way how Adam felt to suddenly discover Eve in the same garden. To Coats, the story of these two first creatures is the story of temptation for every woman and every man. It is a metaphor. These two figurative creatures never really existed as such. But, to Coats, there must have been two first creatures who, given free will by Yahweh, had to choose between following a God given directive or that of the tempting snake--they chose incorrectly.

As one looks around the world today, it has not been so easy following biblical lessons. The same struggles over what people feel is the correct path to righteousness still exist and divide peoples and nations. What's more appalling is that many of these battles take place in the very lands where the ancient Israelites wandered, did battle, lived, loved, and died. 

For some, Original Sinners might be seen as one author's attempt to flesh out the Bible stories by filling in with what might have happened historically, while at the same time admitting that other interpretations are equally possible. The book points out how the Divine could be present in human affairs. In some instances, Yahweh interferes directly as when he told Noah to build his ark, a large boxy container in which pairs of living creatures would be safe from a torrential disturbance. 

Coats admits that at the time when the flood occurred, anthropologists and climatologists have found no evidence of a world-wide flood. But it has also been suggested by some scientists that Noah's flood might have been the opening of the straight of Gibraltar to the higher oceanic waters of the Atlantic which would indeed have flooded Noah's known world. Wikipedia claims this has occurred several times due to tectonic plate shifting.

Original Sinners , however, paints Yahweh as displaying the very same human feelings as his creatures, particularly love, anger, resentment, and revenge. For some, this could be a major stumbling block not only to Coats' portrayal of Genesis, but to belief in the Bible in general. In addition, the author often allows Yahweh to impose his will indirectly by having the characters in a biblical episode act in certain ways, not always noble or just, to bring about his eternal plan for the human race. As Coats says, "he ... did not violate the rules, but he used proxies instead, people with flexible character whose moral fiber would be woven into whatever cloth was most appropriate to the situation."

Thus, as a whole, I found Original Sinners to be a fascinating and humorous rendition of Genesis. Author Coats has presented biblical fiction in a digestible way, often using quotes from the Bible to reinforce his personal view of what could have been. He explains away some of the most mythical biblical stories about Abraham, Sarah, Esau, Jacob, Isaac and Joseph and a host of others, but even in those metaphorical explanations, he always refers back to Yahweh as more of a super human with human feelings rather than a God that is beyond all things. 

This book is well written and fun to read. Throughout the work, Coats describes incidents in his own life that easily parallel biblical stories making them much more intimate and believable. As a reader, if you are interested in the Bible and would like Genesis to influence your own life, read Original Sinners. You will see its people in a new light.