maybe of interest
Zeitschrift fur antikes Cristentum/J. of Ancient Christianity band 22 heft 1 2022
Theme issue: Genesis 1 in Different Late Antique Constellations
ToC:
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/z ... atestIssue
and
SBL-seminar (November meting ff): Early Exegesis of Genesis 1-3
https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congr ... etingId=41
The God(s) of Genesis 1-2
Re: Two Gods, as One
I perceive two myths, merged. The incompatible interpretations arise from two formerly separate identities, a problematic/contradictory synthesis of (at least) two gods. The plurality 'our image' and other clues cannot adequately be explained away. The following statement is closest to my own thinking, although I go further, that the OT 'Yahwah' had been syncretized to 'Horon' (~Ialdobaoth) and other gods also, and whereas this Elohim was more Platonic, a later stage/abstraction. Incidentally, the (Jewish?) author is not hostile to Judaism; to me, this thesis seems unbiased, straight-forward, etc. but the Two God theory would be considered very controversial (i.e. divisive) to religious people still.
Otherwise, the Father & Creator and two faces/sides of a dual-natured deity -- plausible but less compelling, to me.
Ron Naiweld, The Age of the Parákletos: A Historical Defense of Rabbinic Knowledge [2022], p.8:
Otherwise, the Father & Creator and two faces/sides of a dual-natured deity -- plausible but less compelling, to me.
Ron Naiweld, The Age of the Parákletos: A Historical Defense of Rabbinic Knowledge [2022], p.8:
In the figure of Yhwh-Elohim, the two gods merge into a single entity, and with them collide two modes of being in the world:
• The earth created by Elohim, the product of a series of thoughtful actions. It is a world of plenty, in which humans can thrive. Humans—males and females—are created equal. They are called to fill the earth and dominate the animals. Earth produces food for all living creatures—cereals (“herb bearing seed”) and fruit trees for humans; “green herb” for animals.
• The earth created by Yhwh, is the product of a series of miscalculated actions. In it, the best spot is occupied by the god's garden, where a man, created by the god, is put to work. The animals and the woman are created to help the man in his work. The god dominates the man, and then casts him and the woman out of the garden, condemning them to a life of hardship.
Accepting that the two creation stories refer to the same historical event leads to the juxtaposition of the Garden of Eden—where the first human beings were enslaved by Yhwh—and the perfect ordained world given to human by Elohim. The specific architectures that result from this collision vary in many respects, but share the same basic mechanism, which allows them to link together existential extremes within the confines of a single sentence, thought, and structure. The tension between these extremes that are held together produces energy that can be harnessed for human individuals and societies to reconfigure their position in the world, or to maintain their posture in the midst of evolving circumstances.
• The earth created by Elohim, the product of a series of thoughtful actions. It is a world of plenty, in which humans can thrive. Humans—males and females—are created equal. They are called to fill the earth and dominate the animals. Earth produces food for all living creatures—cereals (“herb bearing seed”) and fruit trees for humans; “green herb” for animals.
• The earth created by Yhwh, is the product of a series of miscalculated actions. In it, the best spot is occupied by the god's garden, where a man, created by the god, is put to work. The animals and the woman are created to help the man in his work. The god dominates the man, and then casts him and the woman out of the garden, condemning them to a life of hardship.
Accepting that the two creation stories refer to the same historical event leads to the juxtaposition of the Garden of Eden—where the first human beings were enslaved by Yhwh—and the perfect ordained world given to human by Elohim. The specific architectures that result from this collision vary in many respects, but share the same basic mechanism, which allows them to link together existential extremes within the confines of a single sentence, thought, and structure. The tension between these extremes that are held together produces energy that can be harnessed for human individuals and societies to reconfigure their position in the world, or to maintain their posture in the midst of evolving circumstances.