Q & R: Timing of 3 Biblical Narratives

Here’s the Q:

Just finished A New Kind of Christianity and I must say it moved me deeply. It opened me to a variety of different ways of seeing how I can remain a determined Christ-follower but perhaps not a Christian as most understand that term.
My quick question is the three narrative patterns that you outline… I totally agree with them and have used them in my preaching, etc… but it made me curious when you seemed to suggest that these were written into the Bible chronologically as people’s perspectives of God changed.
Wouldn’t Biblical scholarship say that Exodus was written slightly before Genesis and Genesis was written around the same time as the Exile narratives (prophets)? Just curious as I know that people will pick at that as I engage with them in small groups.
BTW, I plan on gathering a couple of small groups together this fall to discuss your book. I’m a pastor of a church in Canada and have found my faith invigorated by the opportunity to talk freely about the very concepts you outline in your book with a few small pockets of folks in my congregation over the years. You are totally right, these kind of conversations are not ready for ‘prime time’ (Sunday morning worship) as of yet but maybe someday.
Thank you for your courage.

R: I agree with you – Exodus is the primary narrative, and probably arose first. Genesis, it seems to me, is the prequel that tells the readers how they got to Egypt in the first place. Then the prophetic narratives provide a sequel – when the community found itself in Babylon/Medo-Persia instead of Egypt, awaiting liberation once again. This time, though, they realized that getting your own homeland isn’t enough: something global is needed, so everyone has a secure homeland … otherwise, nobody is secure. The narrative grows from a tribal/national survival narrative to a global reconciliation narrative. So yes – I agree with you. Thanks for the encouragement as well …