Their question is not limited to temporal time and place; it's a question about ultimate origins. (religion-online.org)
It's surprising to me what a powerful an interest we have in our origins, surprising because we all have the same ultimate origin in fact (the African genesis of all people seems to be holding up), and surprising, too, because the sorts of things that concern us don't make any difference. (slaw.ca)
This means not only that we are approaching the texts as fully human productions — I point out that statements of divine inspiration are statements concerning ultimate origin and authority, not method of composition - but even more that we take seriously that aspect of literature of most interest to cultural anthropologists: how it gives symbolic expression to human experience. (religion-online.org)