Reading Of Genesis Research Articles

Article Title: “Creation as a Cosmic Temple: Reading Genesis 1:1–2:4a in Light of Willie van Heerden’s Ecological Insights”

Article Title: “Creation as a Cosmic Temple: Reading Genesis 1:1–2:4a in Light of Willie van Heerden’s Ecological Insights”

Kgarebe (virgin) and carnal knowledge: Reading Genesis 19:30–38 from the margins

In this article, issues of carnal knowledge, gender (read: daughters) and agency as evident in selected texts from the Judeo-Christian tradition and the African context in South Africa are interrogated. Do the ideologies embedded in religious texts endorse unequal power relations between male and female human beings (batho)? Of particular interest for the present investigation is the issue of carnal knowledge as it is understood in African (Northern Sotho) contexts and the Hebrew Bible (cf. Gn 19) context. Informed by the insights from both the African and the ancient Israelite contexts, the key questions that this essay seeks to engage are: when the notion of carnal knowledge is engaged with, in the context of daughters in both African and biblical contexts, which insights may emerge? Can such insights contribute to the affirmation of daughters as persons with agency? Contribution: Dealing with a scarcely researched upon topic within the circles of South African Old Testament scholarship, that is, the OT text (Genesis) (sex)uality and the agency of younger women (read: daughters), through the knowledge produced herein, the HTS will be enabled to make a needed impact in patriarchal African and global contexts.

Kgarebe (virgin) and carnal knowledge: Reading Genesis 19:30–38 from the margins

Kgarebe (virgin) and carnal knowledge: Reading Genesis 19:30–38 from the margins

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1-11

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1-11

The Woman’s Curse: A Redemptive Reading of Genesis 3:16

In light of the recent developments featuring women around the world reclaiming their autonomy and self-respect in the face of male domination, it is becoming increasingly urgent to rethink the ancient “curse” on woman and the way that it has not only allowed but condoned male oppression and domination over women throughout the centuries. Rather than read the text through the traditional Aristotelian lens used by Church fathers to describe woman as the seductress and man as the legitimate authority over woman’s corrupt nature, this paper proposes a radical re-reading of the “curse” of Genesis 3:16 as a redemptive rather than a punitive moment wherein the woman is given back her power as the ezer kenegdo of man, and man is given back his kingdom lost and his reign over the whole of Creation, or mashal, through the woman’s love, or teshuqah. This will entail that the two key concepts mashal and teshuqah be profoundly re-interpreted from a Hebrew inter-textual perspective rather than through a Greek philosophical lens.

Tohu Wabohu dan Creatio ex Nihilo: Tafsir Kejadian 1:1-2 Sebagai Perspektif Memahami Realitas Anomali

Some interpreters have argued that the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo cannot be based on the reading of Genesis 1: 1-2. Genesis 1: 1-2 shows that the earth which was in a state of tohu wabohu (chaos) was the initial condition of pre-creation. Chaos was then organized into a new order. This paper argues that Genesis 1: 1-2 can be read, both as creation ex nihilo as well as transformation from chaos into harmony. This research is a qualitative research with descriptive-analytical method. The description of the meaning of Genesis 1: 1-2 is done through syntactic analysis, the literary context of Ancient Near Eastern cosmogony, and the relation of Genesis 1 to the world view of the priesthood. The results of this study indicate that although Genesis 1: 1-2 echoes the expression of ancient chaos, it has been placed as a consequence of God's creative act. The creation ex nihilo of heaven and earth, carries the risk of chaos which is further arranged by God into a good order. In addition, if it is related to the worldview that forms the basis of ritual, Genesis 1: 1-2 not only gives a picture of the origin of the world, but also provides a perspective to understand reality, both harmony and anomalies.

Reading Genesis: A Literary and Theological Commentary

Reading Genesis: A Literary and Theological Commentary

Tamar says #MeToo: Reading Genesis 38 through the lens of gender justice

The Genesis 38 story of Judah’s engagement with his daughter-in-law Tamar, who had disguised herself as a common prostitute ( zonah), speaks to the opaque nature of patriarchal oppression of women throughout the ages, an oppression that often leads to sexual harassment, abuse, and violence. Women often suffer silently through the indignities of these violations in order to achieve personal and professional goals that lead to the establishment and sustainability of jobs, careers, and stable environments for their children. The story of Tamar’s brave, strategic action combined with Judah’s confession of wrongdoing speaks into the twenty-first century’s international struggle for gender justice as evidenced by the #MeToo movement.

Reading Genesis: a Literary and Theological Commentary, written by Julie Galambush

Reading Genesis: a Literary and Theological Commentary, written by Julie Galambush

Julie Galambush, Reading Genesis: A Literary and Theological Commentary

Julie Galambush, Reading Genesis: A Literary and Theological Commentary

Creation and Contingency in Early Patristic Thought: The Beginning of All Things by Joseph Torchia

Reviewed by: Creation and Contingency in Early Patristic Thought: The Beginning of All Things by Joseph Torchia Alexander H. Pierce Creation and Contingency in Early Patristic Thought: The Beginning of All Things Joseph Torchia Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019. Pp. xxxiv + 229. ISBN: 978-1-4985-6281-2 The publication of Gerhard May's Schöpfung aus dem Nichts in 1978 (and its subsequent translation under the title Creatio ex nihilo in 1994) contributed to a heightened concern among biblical scholars, theologians, and historians of philosophy to trace the development of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo within Jewish and early Christian literature and to situate it in the light of the philosophical traditions that developed in response to Plato's Timaeus. Many scholars have called May's proposal into question and others have come to his defense. Joseph [End Page 446] Torchia's book under review successfully accomplishes pushing the focus of the conversation beyond controversy over whether the explicit terminology of creation ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων is the evidence necessary to evince early Christian selfdifferentiation to a more implicit factor, what he calls the "contingency criterion," by which he means "whether the text in question affirms the contingency of created reality in relation to the sovereignty and omnipotence of its Creator" (xxvii). In this excellent monograph, Torchia builds on a diverse and expansive literature by offering a well-balanced analysis that provides us with a greater level of clarity concerning the theological horizon of creatio ex nihilo as the absolute sovereignty of God and contingency of all creation. Creation and Contingency is comprised of three parts. In the first, Torchia examines the sources of the development of the doctrine of creation, including Christian Scripture (Chapter 1), Plato's Timaeus (Chapter 2), and the debates among Middle Platonists concerning Aristotle's criticism of Plato's cosmogony (Chapter 3). Torchia contends in Chapter 1 that Scripture attests both the correlativity of creaturely contingency and divine sovereignty and that God's creation is invested with an intelligible purpose, to participate in the God who is its highest Good. In Chapter 2, Torchia takes the "beginning" of all things in Tim. 27d-69a as a point of departure to explore how Plato presents a teleological world in which true Being is immutable, cosmogony involves the mutability of this sensible world, and the changing world of Becoming we experience is good because of its participation in intelligible Being. In anticipation of the third chapter, Torchia presses the issue of the literal and metaphorical readings of Plato's Timaeus, contending that whereas the majority of Plato's successors took his claim that the world came into being (γέγονε) metaphorically, Aristotle read Plato literally, which conflicted with his own view that the world is eternally existent, without beginning or end. Chapter 3 then charts the Middle Platonists who uphold the "majority opinion," siding with Aristotle on the eternal world while referring to Plato to speak of causal principles that explain its order (e.g., Alcinous, Apuleius), and those who maintain a temporally originated universe (e.g., Plutarch, Atticus). As he turns to consider the early patristic reception of these sources, Torchia alerts readers to an important issue often underappreciated in such studies, namely, the problem of "meaning variance" in the unwarranted conflation of creation as ordering disorder with creation as bringing being out of non-being (64–65). The second part of the book attends to the theology of creation and the relation of God to the world in Hellenistic Judaism and the Apostolic Fathers, finding in these sources both the conflicted reception of the biblical text and Plato's Timaeus and the undeniable anticipation of later developments among the Greek apologists of the second century. In Chapter 4, Torchia treats the creation account according to Philo Judaeus, showing how Philo's reading of Genesis as a Middle Platonist enabled him to function as a point of contact between Hellenistic and Judeo-Christian thought and a model for how to incorporate Plato's Timaeus and Genesis (among other scriptural texts) in a satisfactory account of the beginning of all things. Chapter 5 prepares the [End Page 447] way for the final part by considering the Apostolic Fathers' affirmations...

L’exégêse anti-origéniste de Jean Philopon

The main exegetical work of Jean Philopon, the De opificio mundi, which rehearses the literalist reading of Genesis found in the Basil of Caesarea’s Hexaemeron rather than an allegorical reading, uses a surprising hermeneutic given the general expectations of the era and in particular the Miaphysite milieu to which Philoponus belongs. This paper studies how Philoponus’ work stems from the demands of the Christological debate in which he took part, and offers an evaluation of its immediate aftermath.

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11 by C. John Collins

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11 by C. John Collins

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11

Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11

‘A Great and Holy War’: Religious Routes to Women’s Suffrage, 1909–1914

Abstract Looking back on the Edwardian suffrage campaign, the militant suffragette Annie Kenney thought it ‘more like a religious revival than a political movement’. Its language and iconography were steeped in Christian imagery, yet the religious arguments for enfranchisement have rarely received close attention. This article shows how campaigners grappled with patriarchal readings of Genesis, St Paul and the traditions of the Church to construct a Christian case for equality. It focuses, in particular, on the Church League for Women’s Suffrage, an Anglican organisation boasting nearly 6,000 members by 1914. Inspired by the incarnational theology of Charles Gore, the League recruited over 500 clergy and eight bishops, convinced that enfranchisement was not merely compatible with, but actively demanded by, the teaching of Christ. Activists preached sermons, wrote pamphlets and debated theology in the religious press, establishing a powerful theological case for reform. Using the League as a case-study, the article explores the wider relationship between gender ideology and religious thought, at a time when Christianity was the central referent of British culture. Interrogating the religious roots of ‘militancy’, it shows how the conception of suffragism as a spiritual struggle collapsed any easy distinction between ‘religion’ and ‘politics’, establishing prayer, worship and Biblical exegesis as weapons of political warfare. The churches, it is concluded, did not simply respond to changing ideas about sex and gender; they were themselves sites of new thinking about the roles of men and women, forming one of the many tributaries that fed the flood-tide of feminist thought.

Angels among us? The Watchers myth and angelology in Ephrem’s Commentary on Genesis and the Ethiopic tradition

This study examines the euhemeristic interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4 as it appears in Ephrem of Nisibis’ Commentary on Genesis and its influence on Syriac and Ethiopic commentary traditions. I suggest that Ephrem’s attempt to mitigate the angelic interpretation of Genesis 6 ironically mirrors his own angelology. The distinctive components he adds to the Watchers myth (different geography, diet, and bodies) are central virtues in Ephrem’s attempt to make virginity and monasticism ideals for all Christians. For Ephrem, the angels are paradigms of these ideals, and those who achieve them become equal to the angels. Surprisingly, these distinctive components reappear in the Ethiopian commentary tradition on Genesis ( andemta), but unlike Ephrem, the andemta makes the equation of Sethites with angels and monks quite explicit. Overall, this analysis between Ephrem and the andemta reveals the influence of Syriac interpretation on the Ethiopian commentary tradition as well as the centrality of angelology in the Sethite reading of Genesis 6:1–4.

Improv and the Angel: Disability Dance, Embodied Ethics, and Jewish Biblical Narrative

AbstractDisability dance lays claim to the provocative possibilities of the disabled body, raising profound questions about the politics of art, affect, and embodiment. For scholars of religion, disability dance is a powerful—and as yet unrecognized—site for probing the sacrality and ethics enacted in disability culture. This article brings the biblical tale of Jacob and the angel into conversation with a contemporary performance, “The Way You Look (at me) Tonight,” an intimate duet between choreographer and performer Jess Curtis and Clare Cunningham, an internationally acclaimed dancer who explores the artistry of lived disability experience. Using dance as a hermeneutic invitation to draw out ethical insights into risk, consent, and intimacy, I offer a disability‐sensitive reading of Genesis 32—reading the angel as a body whose presence attests to the brilliant shock of disability difference and probing the psychic and somatic transformation that unfolds when Jacob comes into kinesthetic contact with disability and the sacred.

Book Review: C. John Collins, Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11

Book Review: C. John Collins, <i>Reading Genesis Well: Navigating History, Poetry, Science, and Truth in Genesis 1–11</i>

Myths We Live By

Abstract In responding to Joy Ladin's reparative reading of Genesis 1–3, the article argues that what is most salient about the biblical narrative is its inscription of male dominance and linking of male dominance to compulsory heterosexuality. In Genesis 1, the existence of a male/female binary is declared foundational to creation. In Genesis 2, we learn that this binary is not innocent, that however much the woman is like the man, the man, in telling the story, has allotted precedence to himself. In Genesis 3, male precedence is depicted as affirmed by God in a way that ties it to both Eve's gender role and heterosexual coupledom. While this is not a reading that is recuperative from a transgender perspective, it does show clearly what is potentially at stake in a transgender critique. If the creation narrative ties together sexual differentiation, gender roles, male dominance, and heterosexuality, questioning the notion of a sexual binary and the necessary entanglement of sex and gender threatens—or promises—to unravel this whole fabric. Every node in the complex interconnections posited by Genesis is based on a binary: male/female, masculine/feminine, male/masculine over female/feminine, homosexual/heterosexual. To challenge the seemingly clear and irrefutable given, the male/female binary, is to leave the others without foundation.

“All These Look to You”: Reading Psalm 104 with Animals in the Anthropocene Epoch

Psalm 104 is associated with biblical creation theology, but it seldom receives as much attention as the book of Genesis. Yet Genesis has been and continues to be used to justify human dominion over other animals, which has contributed to a new era in the earth’s history known as the “Anthropocene” epoch. In contrast, Psalm 104 provides an ecological representation of creation that recognizes God’s care for animals. Humans appear in the psalm, but only as one creature among others. A focus on Psalm 104 may foster an approach to biblical creation theology that is more attentive to animals and useful as an ecological frame for reading Genesis and other texts.