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There are two principal assumptions or experiences that we can bring to the Book of Exodus that may impact our understanding ... It speaks powerfully to the minds and hearts of anyone experiencing exploitation and injustice precisely because of its account of Israel’s liberation. ... It also addresses the tension many Christians feel between what we read in the Word of God and what we feel in our own human experience.

Whether it is a hardened atheist ... or an angst-ridden artist ... or in specifically religious contexts, we appear irresistibly drawn to spiritual questions that are personal and experiential in nature. And it is God, the Creator of our material and spiritual world, who confronts us in Genesis 1 and throughout this first book of the Bible.

There is a wonderful clip dating from 1968 featuring J. R. R. Tolkien, author of what still seems widely regarded as the single greatest English-language novel. Tolkien talks about how the fiction unfolded, dismissing the suggestion that his masterpiece is an allegory of the nuclear bomb.