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Critical Questions: Creation

Critical Questions: Creation. Dr Katherine Southwood. Classification?. Myth? A poetic expression of belief in realities beyond or underlying the perceived world. Wisdom text? Since it is concerned with questions of life and death.

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Critical Questions: Creation

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  1. Critical Questions: Creation Dr Katherine Southwood

  2. Classification? • Myth? Apoetic expression of belief in realities beyond or underlying the perceived world. • Wisdom text? Since it is concerned with questions of life and death. • Etiology: Explanation of why the world works the way it does.

  3. Firmament

  4. Firmamentרקיע • “Atmosphere” (NIV)? • √רקע“to beat out”. Exod. 39:3 ‘they beat the gold into thin plates’ • LXX στερεωματος ‘solid body’ • Vulgate ‘firmamentum’

  5. ברא Create? Separate?

  6. ברא Create? • 1. Versions: LXX εποιησεν √ποιεω. Vulgate ‘In principio creavit Deus cælum et terram’ • 2. Frequent verb. Meaning would not be forgotten quickly. • 3. It occurs in parallel with other verbs which mean create (עשה יצא). • 3. Syntax: In Hebrew one separates (usually using the verb בדל ) between x and between y.

  7. Cosmology

  8. Balance

  9. Enumaelish When the skies above were not yet named Nor earth below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one, their begetter, And maker Tiamat, who bore them all, Had mixed their waters together, But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds; When yet no gods were manifest, Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed, Then gods were born within them

  10. Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat Then joined issue Tiamat and Marduk, wisest of gods, They swayed in single combat, locked in battle. The lord spread out his net to enfold her, The Evil Wind, which followed behind, he let loose in her face. When Tiamat opened her mouth to consume him, He drove the Evil Wind that she close not her lips. As the fierce winds charged her belly, Her body was distended and her mouth was wide open. He released the arrow, it tore her belly, 

  11. Tree of life and tree of knowledge Tree of life in the Epic of Gilgamesh: ‘Bread for Ned the Keeper of the Gate, bread for Ningizzida the god of the serpent, the lord of the Tree of Life…’

  12. Other creation narratives within the Bible • God creates an ordered and coherent whole (Gen 1:1-2a / Ps 74: 12-17; 104) . • The focus of Creation is on humankind (Ezek28:12-19) • Wisdom exists before the beginning of the earth and God creates the world in wisdom or by wisdom (Pro 8; Job 38-41). • God creates a people for a special divine-human relationship. Isaiah 40-55. • God engages in conflict with opponents (chaos, monsters, other gods). Ps 74:12-17, 89:9-13 and Job 41. • God continues to create – God will end the first creation (Jer 4:23-28) and after further conflict, a new Creation will emerge (Isa 65:17-25; Ezek 38-39; Zech 2:1-5; Dan 7-12).

  13. Identity Without a story at the beginning, human beings face chaos, and their origin seems to be an abyss. In order to provide a foundation for existence, the beginning was filled with meaning. Moreover, every culture attaches a meaning to the beginning, often in the form of stories. These are not stories in the sense of tales, but realities in which people live. These are stories which give people roots. (Van Wolde, 1996)

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