GENESIS AND THE BIBLE

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GENESIS AND THE BIBLE

• A BEGINNING
• BY
• RALPH MONDAY
• WORLD LITERATURE I

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In the beginning God said let there be light.
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Temptation and expulsion from Eden.
Sistine Chapel.
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Genesis As Historical Narrative

• But also hundreds of statutes, ordinances, and
  detailed directions for sacrifice and worship
  that regulated
• Every phase of Israels daily and religious life.
• This is the story of the chosen people.

• The Pentateuch, of which Genesis is one book, is
  the core of Judaism, for these five books
  comprise the
• Torah, the law or instruction, that Yahweh gave
  to Israel through Moses. The Torah contains not
  only the Ten Commandments,

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The Mosaic Tradition

• Traditionally, the first five books of the Bible
  have been ascribed to Moses authorship.
• However, in the past two centuries, scholarly
  analysis has produced a variety of theories to
  explain the repetitions, inconsistencies,

• Stylistic differences, and abrupt shifts in
  emphasis and theological viewpoint that
  characterize Genesis through Deuteronomy.
• There is one generally accepted theory that
  attempts to explain these discrepancies.

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The Documentary Hypothesis

• This premise is also called the Graf-Wellhausen
  Hypothesis after the 19th century German scholars
  who presented strong evidence in support of the
  theory.

• This theory states that the Pentateuch is a
  composite work containing at least four major
  documentary sources.
• Definitely not the inerrant Bible that most of us
  grew up with.

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The Two Different Versions

• The earliest source of the Pentateuch is called J
  because the author uses the name Yahweh (in
  German, Jahweh) for God.
• This occurred about 950 B.C.E. This author took
  Israels story all the way back to the creation,
  and

• Told the stories of Adam and Eve, the Flood,
  Abraham and the other patriarchs,
• The exodus from Egypt, and the conquest of
  Canaan.
• The J document is thought to have originated in
  southern Israel.

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The Northern E Document

• About a century after the J author wrote, a
  second, northern source for the Pentateuch was
  compiled.
• The northern writer is called E or the Elohist
  because he uses the generic name Elohim for God,
  and incorporates into his

• Story much older material that had previously
  been transmitted orally.
• Later, an important step was made to combine J
  and E to produce JE, perhaps around 750 B.C.E.

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The Meaning of the Word Genesis

• Websters dictionary defines Genesis as
• Originating from the Greek gignesthai, to become,
  to be born.
• Genesis is an account of creation in the
  Judeo-Christian world mythos.

• There are over 100 creation myths world-wide.
• Genesis is the one that is most familiar to the
  Western world.
• Judaism, Christianity, Islam, all share this base
  Semitic creation story.

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This beautiful Rendering is Indeed an apt Visual
metaphor For the idea of Creation.
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A more Traditional Rendering is Michelangelos Pai
nting in The Sistine Chapel, Where God Is imbuing
the Spark of life To Adam.
This is the Sixth day of Creation.
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Historical Cultural Meaning of the Mythos
Genesis, from the creation of heaven and earth in
chapter 1 to the Descent of Israels tribes into
Egypt in the concluding chapters, Is a record of
historical origins seen through faith. This is
its key.
The book can be generally divided into four main
sections
PART IChapters 1-11 explains universal history
creation, the flood, and the origin of various
national and linguistic groups. After this
prologue Genesis then focuses on the lives of the
four great ancestors of The Hebrew people
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
PART IIChapters 12-24 emphasizes the story of
Abraham, the Ancestor of all Jewish people. The
conclusion of the Abrahamic Covenant is the most
important part of the narrative.
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PART IIIChapters 25-36 intermixes the story of
Isaac with that Of his son Jacob Jacobs twelve
sons are the founders of the Traditional twelve
tribes of Israelthe genetic progeny of the
race Is here inscribed.
PART IVChapters 37-50, the last section,
narrates the story of Joseph and his brothers.
This is primarily to explain how the
twelve Tribes came to live in Egypt. Genesis
concludes with Josephs Prophetic hope that
Israel will eventually return to Canaan,
the Promised Land.
This occurred in 1948 with the establishment of a
Jewish state, The first since the Diaspora in 70
C.E. when the Romans began To drive the Jewish
people out of Canaan.
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THUS, THE STAGE IS SET, THE PLAYERS ARE
ARRANGED, FOR PERHAPS THE MOST POWERFUL CULTURAL
MYTHOS THAT THE WESTERN WORLD, AND INDEED EVEN
THE ENTIRE WORLD, HAS EVER SEEN--
THE WORLD OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN SYSTEM THE
COSMOS OF GENESIS.
THIS IS A WORLD THAT STILL POWERFULLY
RESONATES FROM ANCIENT HISTORY TO TODAYOUR WORLD
OF TECHNOLOGY, SUPERCOMPUTERS, THE SPACE
SHUTTLE A UNIVERSE THAT DESPITE THE PROBINGS OF
SCIENCE, RATIONAL, LOGIC, AND REASON, STILL LOOKS
FOR AN EXPLANATION OF LIFE IN THE SUPERNATURAL.
THIS IS GENESISTHE BEGINNING OF
BEGINNINGS, ALPHA AND OMEGA, EMBRACING BOTH
ORIGINS AND ENDINGS.
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Let Us Begin the Journey by Exploring the Ancient
Past
Eden, is one of only Many archetypal Images
projecting Into the deep Ancestral past
that Attempts to explain The perfectstate
in Which human beings Once existed.
This is the Golden Age. All cultures Embrace
this myth.
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The Genesis Narrative
Genesis begins with a sublime hymn to Gods
creative might, and Recounts the six days of
creation which culminate in the appearance Of
humanity fashioned in the image of God (Gen.
127).
There is an older Babylonian creation myththe
Enuma Elishthat Is similar to Genesis, a
polytheistic account, but not one that we
are Presently concerned with.
In the Genesis mythos, Elohim creates man and
woman to reflect his own Divine attributes and to
enjoy dominion over the earth and all the Life it
contains. In this narrative human beings are the
masters of Earthly creation, and the entire
creative event is pronounced very good (Gen.
128-31).
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Elohim Creating Adam.
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Creation Of Eve.
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A more Modern Politically And Religiously Correct
rendering (from a WASP Standpoint) Of the
creation Of Adam and Eve.
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The Second Creation Account

• Genesis has two distinctly different narratives
  regarding the creation.
• The style and viewpoint of the story abruptly
  changes in the second chapter.
• The second creation account (Gen. 2425), the J
  version

• Presents a more anthropomorphic view of god. This
  account refers to God as Yahweh, not Elohim.
• God is portrayed as a just but stern
  father-figure who is capable of suspicion, anger,
  and defensiveness when his authority is
  threatened by the first human couple.

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Differences Between the J and E Accounts
In the priestly or E version man and woman are
created simultaneously And appear only AFTER all
lower forms of life have already been Created.
In the second or J version, Adam is made early in
the creative process, Then animals are made and
Yahweh brings them to Adam to be named. (Gen.
21820). When no animal is acceptable as Adams
helpmate, Yahweh creates Eve from Adams rib.
In this account, woman is definitely an
afterthought, and she is Instrumental in mans
fall from grace.
This second version, the one most commonly taught
in the Judeo- Christian framework, is a perfect
example of what people believe Depending on the
cultural mythos taken into ones psychology.
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According to J, It is through the Woman that
the Mysterious serpent Seduces Adam into Eating
the fruit from The Tree of Knowledge Of Good and
Evil. Not mentioned as an Apple, just fruit.
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Here Kitty, Kitty!
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Adam and Eve being Driven From The Garden After Th
e Fall.
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Tree of Knowledge Of Good And Evil.
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After the Fall Yahweh curses man with futile
labor and with death Woman with the pain of
childbirth and domination by the male.
Js account answers several age-old questions
Why is life so difficult?
Why must we work so hard to live?
Why is giving birth so painful?
Why must we die?
The purpose of a cultural mythos once again to
provide Explanations.
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An interesting aspect of Js anthropomorphic
portrait of Yahweh Is his vision of the gods
motive for exiling man from paradise.
In Genesis 32224, Yahweh interprets man as an
incipient rival Who must be prevented from
acquiring more godlike attributes.
The man, he observes, has become like one of us,
with his knowledge Of good and evil (possibly a
metaphor for knowing everything).
Then, so that man will not eat from the Tree of
Life and live forever, Yahweh banishes the
newly weds from Eden and posts an angel with A
flaming sword to keep them from the crucial Tree
of Life.
As late as classical Greece the two major
qualities that distinguished The gods from men
were the formers superior knowledge and
immortality.
Since humankind had already acquired forbidden
knowledge, Yahweh Prevents their becoming fully
like the other divine powers by denying Them
everlasting life.