The lesson of truth is not held in one consciousness.

It explodes towa
the other. To study well, to read well, to listen well, is already
to speak: whether by asking questions and, in so doing, touching
the master who teaches you, or by teaching a third party.

--Emmanuel Levinas “Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings, 2004”

NBTS, Fall 2009

Professor Charles Rix
 Why is this text here?
 To what is the text responding?

 What is the text saying? (content)

 What is the text doing?
(performance)
 Whose interests are being served?
 What is at stake?
 Are lives at risk?
 Patriarchs Counter-point…
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Job? Ecclesiastes?
Theological Crisis:
How do we start again?
Origins How did we get here?Post-Exile
Creation Judges
First Family
1250-1000 Exiles Persian Period
Genealogies Exodus United
Kingdom
Assyria
Northern
Babylon
Southern
Flood Moses / Sinai 1000-922 Kingdom Kingdom
Tower of Babel Giving of the Law Divided 722 586/7
Kingdom
922-722
Deuteronomic Response:
We did not obey God, worshipped other gods, is there hope?
Deuteronomic History
Deuteronomy – 2 Kings
Conquest United Divided
Settlement Monarchy Monarchy
~1250 1000-922
North / South
Beyond Periphery

Home

Mountain:
Periphery: Foreign

monsters
 justice

theodicy
shalom

righteousness
 Source criticism
 Form criticism
 Redaction criticism
 Tradition/history criticism
 Narrative criticism
 Ideological criticism
 Genesis 4:1-16
 Genesis 22:1-19
 Exodus 33:12-23
 Leviticus 10:1-17
 Isaiah 58
 Amos 5:18-24
 Psalm 1
 Why are these texts here?
 What questions might these text have been
answering?
 Are differences in terminology, style, and
content between
 Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a
 Genesis 2:4b – 2:25?

 If so, what are the theological consequences?

 What are responsible or irresponsible uses of
Genesis 1-2?
Who was Baal (in
Ugarit)?

 Struggled for
kingship over the
universe
 Was the “warrior
storm god” whose
name means Lord.
 Rivals:
 Yamm: god of the
Sea
 Mot: god of death /
Who was Baal (in Ugarit)?
 Receives a limited
kingship, not one who
vanquishes all enemies
for all times
 Was a relatively weak
deity aided in his
victories by other
deities.
 Baal’s rule is in three
areas: Cosmic, Human,
Nature
 Baal’s struggles mirror
humanities struggle
against an uncertain
 Transformations
Psalm 104: a wise design w/out in
enemies
The Biblical Text
Genesis 1: No conflict-creation
but “goodness”

What “lies beyond”, the

Tanninim is transformed
Into part of creation

Sun, moon, etc. are not

Presented as deities, but
Rather as part of creation—

Genesis 1 shows a displacement

Of the traditional conflict
Between monsters and the
Divine Being
GENESIS 1
 God created, God spoke, God named
 Orderliness to what was going to
happen
 Creation happened over a period of
time
 “Us” and “our”
 He created “them” male and female,
so God reflects male and female
 God had forethought because there
was a specificity to the creation. He
planned for the earth to be self
perpetuating
 He had a preference….and it was
good
 God is relational “us” and “them” and
wanting to perpetuate himself
 Ego-centric: create in his own image
 Stamps with an imprint of himself,
things are regenerative and has the
power to produce
GENESIS 2
 Variety,
 Planted, used his hands,
 He made, created out of the dirt
 Creativity
 Breathed into Adam and he became a
living being
 People were naked and not ashamed
 Provider
 Landscaper, gardener, doctor,
orchestrator
 God set boundaries
 God gave laws and set consequences
 Social worker / psychologist
 It is NOT GOOD
 Self-reflective,
 Hydraulic engineer
 Gift giver, master surgeon,
administrator, artist