I wrote:
Why are the first 11 chapters of Genesis included in Holy Writ? In
particular what should we understand about the scriptures recorded in
Genesis 1, 2 and 3? Do the creation stories, and the fall story teach us
anything at all? Presumably, (and I agree here) they do not teach us
about the actual particular events that took place to get the universe
to its present condition. That is, these stories do not record "literal
history" in the sense that we could have captured it on a video camera.
But what is the meaning of the repetitive "and God saw that it was good"
recorded in Gen. 1? Was the creation really "good" in and of itself? - a
goodness which did not, evidently, depend on the presence of humans -
but continued to be good even after the creation (appearance) of humans?
If so what was the quality of this goodness? Does it include some
measure of harmony among creatures and between the Creator and His
creation? Or is it sheer poppycock to think of the creation story in
these terms?
Howard replied:
With a bit of playfulness I might suggest that the only way to get a
definitive answer to your first and last questions, Ken, would be to go
back
in time & chat with the folks who made the decision to craft the
"primeval
history" literature of Genesis 1-11 and to include it in the Hebrew
canon.
More seriously, I would suggest looking at resources like Nahum
Sarna's
book, _Understanding Genesis_ (New York: Schocken Books, 1966). Sarna,
a
Jewish scholar, brings his familiarity with Ancient Near Eastern
culture to
bear on several of your questions.
Now I reply:
Thank-you Howard - I have just checked this book out of the library -
it will no doubt be helpful. But my questions really were trying to get
at something else - not so much how Gen. 1-11 got into the Bible in the
first place - but why is it there today? What is the meaning of Gen 1-11
(esp. Gen 1-3) for 21st century Christians? I know how "literalists"
understand these texts since I was raised in an environment that assumed
the literalism of these chapters. But since a literal reading of these
verses seems quite out of kilter with nearly everything science has
taught us about earth's history, I am interested in finding out if these
texts carry any message at all for Christians today, and if so what is
it?
kpiers
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 22 2001 - 10:35:25 EST