What is the author's purpose in the novel, When the Beginning Began?

Lester says, "My intent is to invite the reader into a new experience of the Divine." Lester takes his religion very seriously, as his account of his conversion in Lovesong: Becoming a Jew, shows. Thus When the Beginning Began is meant to enhance the experience of reading Genesis, not to trivialize it. "Play expresses the holy as surely as solemn piety. Maybe more so, sometimes," he says.