Redaction Of Genesis

Paperback reprint, with new foreword, of the original 1986 hardback. Focusing his research on his own previous studies as well as studies by Cassuto, Sarna, Fishbane, and Sasson, Rendsburg clearly explains his theory that Genesis was edited/redacted around symmetrical patterns. He leads the reader through a step-by-step description of the Abraham Cycle, for instance, showing how content, duplicated narratives, and vocabulary reveal a chiastic pattern; and this pattern is repeated in other sections of the book. On the other hand, in the primeval history, the patterning is parallel, rather than chiastic. Overall, Rendsburg makes it clear that the editing of Genesis led to a systematic design, uniting the material in ways that often is overlooked.

"Articles ... présentés lors du 48e Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense organisé à Louvain les 28, 29 et 30 juillet 1999..."--Pref.

Konrad Schmid is a Swiss biblical scholar who belongs to a larger group of Continental researchers proposing new directions in the study of the Pentateuch. In this volume, a translation of his Erzväter und Exodus, Schmid argues that the ancestor tradition in Genesis and the Moses story in Exodus were two competing traditions of Israel’s origins and were not combined until the time of the Priestly Code—that is, the early Persian period. Schmid interacts with the long tradition of European scholarship on the Hebrew Bible but departs from some of the main tenets of the Documentary Hypothesis: he argues that the pre-Priestly material in both text blocks is literarily and theologically so divergent that their present linkage is more appropriately interpreted as the result of a secondary redaction than as thematic variation stemming from J’s oral prehistory. He dates Genesis–2 Kings to the Persian period and considers it a redactional work that, in its present shape, is a historical introduction to the message of future hope presented in the prophetic corpus of Isaiah-Malachi. Scholars and students alike will be pleased that this translation makes Schmid’s important work readily available in English, both for the contributions made by Schmid and the summary of continental interpretation that he presents. In this edition, some passages have been expanded or modified in order to clarify issues or to engage with more-recent scholarship. The notes and bibliography have also been updated. Dr. Schmid is Professor of Old Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Zürich.

Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Harvard University, 2007.

Rebelling against a century of Old Testament scholarship, Isaac M. Kikawada and Arthur Quinn persuasively argue that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are not a literary patchwork by different editors as widely supposed, but are the work of one author of extraordinary subtlety and skill. Comparing Genesis 1-11 with primeval histories from the ancient Near East, Kikawada and Quinn urge their readers to appreciate the ingenuity of Genesis's author: "When we think we find this author napping, we had better proceed very carefully. As with Homer or Shakespeare, when you think you have seen something wrong, there may well be something wrong with your own eyes. You are more likely to be wrong than either of them." Providing a solid case for the unity of Genesis's first eleven chapters, Kikawada and Quinn move on to show how these chapters provide a formal structure for other Old Testament histories. Destined to have lasting impact on biblical scholarship, Before Abraham Was will give scholars, clergy, and students a new appreciation of critical biblical studies and a new hypothesis for the formation of Genesis.

Reading Genesis presents a panoramic view of the most vital ways that Genesis is approached in modern scholarship. Essays by ten eminent scholars cover the perspectives of literature, gender, memory, sources, theology, and the reception of Genesis in Judaism and Christianity. Each contribution addresses the history and rationale of the method, insightfully explores particular texts of Genesis, and deepens the interpretive gain of the method in question. These ways of reading Genesis, which include its classic past readings, map out a pluralistic model for understanding Genesis in - and for - the modern age.

The style of the Hebrew Bible has long been of significant interest to scholars and exegetes alike. Early Jewish and later Christian commentaries point out the importance of the exact wording in interpreting the text, and many an article has been written on features such as repetition and inclusio. With the rise of literary and narrative criticism in biblical studies, these features have received even more attention. The current book stands in the tradition of Robert Alter in that it focuses on how the text of Genesis is written and phrased. More explicitly, it is interested in why Genesis is formulated the way it is and how this affects the reader in his/her encounter with the text. Doubling and Duplicating is not only concerned with a style-as-analysis frame for interpreters but also with its role as a guide for any audience and its gateway to the ancient mind-set (ideological, ontological, and so on). All of the contributors to this collected volume focus on the form of the book of Genesis—that is, on its use of language and formulation. Yet, each author does this in his/her own way, depending on the most fitting tool for the specific research question or based on the researcher’s methodological background. Thus, the essays represent the various approaches in current literary and stylistic criticism as applied to the biblical corpus. Furthermore, the recurring duality of the features discussed in each of the contributions adds to the overall unity of the volume. This recurrence suggests the presence of a stylistic feature in the book of Genesis, the feature of doubling and duplicating, that surpasses the other features of the individual units or stories. This book offers insights about meaning-making on both the micro- and the macro-text levels.