Reflection on the Yahwist Creation Story

Points to Reflect Upon:

• Every human is a creature of the one Creator, God

Frisk writes, bottom of page 115 in reference the first eleven chapters of Genesis containing five narratives, "These stories do not attempt to give us data in the way a chronological time line or a scientific treatise gives factual information. Rather, they serve as the vehicles by which people of ancient Israel explained how they saw human beings as the creatures of one Creator"

• God's initmate relationship with each us, from the moment He first created us

Genesis 2: 7 taken from the NRSV:

"then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."

Read Birch, page 51 2nd paragraph "God is imaged as a potter Genesis (2:7)

Take a moment to reflect and pray on just how intimate God chooses to relate with each us, even in the first breath that God provides us.

Where's Ishmael?

Where's Ishmael?
How does Genesis and the OT (Old Testament) speak to you in terms of a Christian faith? Does the Old Testament have a significant place in a Christian life? Does our church include OT readings in the lectionary to rebut Marcion, or is there meaning there just as in the NT?One of our reformers, Calvin, loved to write about the unity of the Bible, the unity of the message of the Bible to Christians. “There is a continuity of God’s world” (Birch, 33).The greatest painter of Reformed Protestantism was Rembrandt. Rembrandt painted a scene from Genesis 18.2-15 entitled, Abraham Entertaining the Lord and the Two Angels. http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/rembrandt/thestory_1.shtm.His representation was excellent in all regards, except one. It becomes readily apparent that Rembrandt did the unthinkable; he deliberately chose to alter a key detail in the scene as described in Genesis 18.2-15. Why would Rembrandt choose to alter a key piece of information that is described in the Bible? To do so was very unusual, especially for a Protestant Dutch artist working in a predominantly Protestant land.Having read the text, you will note no mention of the small boy in the background playing with his bow. That’s Ishmael, but what is he doing in this Rembrandt scene?Scholars say that this is a Rembrandt/Calvin sign of unity and inclusiveness; a sign of God’s universality; a God of many nations; a God who blessed Ishmael and Isaac; a God of an Old Covenant and a God of a New Covenant.“The God of Israel is the same God seen as incarnate in Jesus Christ, and it is our recognition of God’s grace in creation, promise, deliverance, covenant making, judgment, and redemption in Israel’s story that allows us to understand more fully the divine grace we see in Jesus Christ” (Birch, 32).How do you find Christianity in the OT?

Redemption

People attempt to understand and explain the sacred texts relative to world in which they live, the socio-political climate, the geography, and their personal issues of faith, or vice versa. Darwin, Calvin, the brothers Grimm (as a definition source), anthropologist Claus Levi-Strauss, each I believe, served a purpose in the effort to explain the bible in general, and Genesis/creation specifically. Frick speaks to the term “history” and proposes two possible translations for consideration. One refers to something as presented as “factual” accounts, and the other represents the past events in addition to an interpretation of the event. I’m intrigued by the Priestly creation story that presents a structured and ordered and balanced account of the story. On some level this order out of chaos speaks to me, especially as Frick outlines the key elements; an announcement of what God said, the command, the assertion that what God commanded did happen, God’s assessment, a statement of conclusion.
On another note, I simply can’t pass up the opportunity to note (especially in light of the discussion in class about the continuation of the literary type of bringing order to chaos, violence to create redemption… Roadrunner, Dirty Harry, Get Smart. As an avid Star Trek fan, the episode about the redemption story entitled “Gilgamesh” where Captain Picard recounted the story and played out the redemption saga, was not lost on me. Yes, the same Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh” creation account… Hmmmm.

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One Possible Resource

Here is a possibly resource from the Access Foundation:
The Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, New Testament, the Quranand a complete Bible Atlas at
http://www.anova.org/sev/
http://www.anova.org/sev/atlas/htm/
http://www.anova.org/sev/zip/bible_atlas.Zip
Good Luck on the Map Quizz this Monday!
submitted by: Melanie Whelan 09/17/2006

Posted for HS

Speaking of the Documentary Hypothesis, given the tone and content of the Pentateuch, can we assume that J, E, D, and P were males? At least one scholar in your midst allows that women may very well deem the Bible to be "hopelessly and irredeemably misogynistic."

The facts are clear. In comparable positions, women are not treated the same as men. Women generally do not rise to the positions in military, government, or business that men do. Socially, women are often expected to be subservient to men. In the Bible, women are often "objects at someone's disposal." How do you interpret the Bible when you read: "Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "(Elijah) Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you"
(1 Kings 17:8)

Does the word "marginalized" come to mind? Some 2,700 years later, has the scenario changed since J, E, D, and P - whoever they were in name or gender - framed the Pentateuch? How should women interpret the Bible and how should men, in turn, interpret the Bible?

Have a look at Dr. Ringe's When Women Interpret the Bible. After reading it once, note your sentiments, then try it again a day later. We'd like to hear about your interpretation!

Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible
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Hebrew Bible

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09/12/2006:
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Hebrew Bible I

As stated in the course syllabus, "As a group of co-learners explore an introductory survey of the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel up through the emergence of Judaism and the Second Temple period. Focusing on crucial theological and hermeneutical issues which emerge out of our reflection on the place of the Hebrew Bible in Christian faith and the life of the church today:

To outline the contents of the Hebrew Bible

To trace the history of ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism.

To reconstruct the emergence of the literature of the Hebrew Bible out of the life of ancient Israel.

To hear the questions and perspectives of people from diverse racial, cultural, and economic contexts as they/we encounter the Hebrew Bible.

To develop a critical consciousness of the ideological nature of both the theological witnesses within the Hebrew Bible and contemporary appropriation of those witnesses.

To discover how the Hebrew Bible can inform Christian faith and practice, i.e. serve as a resource for the life of the church."