Studies In The Personal Names Of Genesis 1 11

"Genesis 1-11 is a text that may well have received more attention than any other in the history of literature. Nevertheless, what do we know about the personal names that occur in these chapters and whose influence has permeated all of Western literature? Hess provides a thorough investigation of the ancient Near Eastern background of these names and discusses how each played a key role in adding significance to the stories and genealogies in which they are found. By studying both the linguistic contexts in the surrounding cultures and the wordplay in the biblical texts, the author provides the first comprehensive study of the importance of these names and traces the implications of his results for the antiquity and power of the familiar stories in which they appear." -- Publisher description.

There is general agreement in the field of Biblical studies that study of the formation of the Pentateuch is in disarray. David M. Carr turns to the Genesis Primeval History, Genesis 1-11, to offer models for the formation of Pentateuchal texts that may have traction within this fractious context. Building on two centuries of historical study of Genesis 1-11, this book provides new support for the older theory that the bulk of Genesis 1-11 was created out of a combination of two originally separate source strata: a Priestly source and an earlier non-Priestly source that was used to supplement the Priestly framework. Though this overall approach contradicts some recent attempts to replace such source models with theories of post-Priestly scribal expansion, Carr does find evidence of multiple layers of scribal revision in the non-P and P sources, from the expansion of an early independent non-Priestly primeval history with a flood narrative and related materials to a limited set of identifiable layers of Priestly material that culminate in the P-like redaction of the whole. This book synthesizes prior scholarship to show how both the P and non-Priestly strata of Genesis also emerged out of a complex interaction by Judean scribes with non-biblical literary traditions, particularly with Mesopotamian textual traditions about primeval origins. The Formation of Genesis 1-11 makes a significant contribution to scholarship on one of the most important texts in the Hebrew Bible and will influence models for the formation of the Hebrew Bible as a whole.

Genesis is the book of beginnings; and creation begins with light. Most religious people live with shuttered windows, receiving light only from their own people and their own tradition. Genesis 1–11 calls us to recognize all peoples as created by God and under the rainbow covenant of his light. This commentary opens windows on seeds of truth from Genesis 1-11 which are planted in the various environments “in front of the text” – including the New Testament, rabbinic tradition, the Qur’an, and Bangladeshi culture. It examines those seeds in their original seedbed, discerning how their truths will unfurl from the fragrant Genesis 1-11 bud of theology through the blessings given to Eve, Noah, and Abraham. Windows on the Text is a ground-breaking Bible commentary series written by followers of Jesus in Muslim contexts. It develops biblical insight in deliberate conversation with the Qur’an, the Hadith, and local Islamic cultures. Confi dent that the Bible in its entirety speaks directly into Muslim contexts, it opens new windows into the holy word of God to equip and empower believers to live out their faith in loving service and clear communication within their communities.

Although the object of centuries of study, only relatively recently has Genesis 1-11 been analyzed with attention to its literary unity and theological purpose. With the latter twentieth century's increased attention to synchronic approaches, many scholars began to consider Genesis 1-11 from the perspective of a literary unity in its final form and, therefore, to consider matters of intent and theological content. Yet, in spite of these treatments, there have been virtually no attempts to view the entire section of Genesis 1-11 as a literary and theological unity presenting a coherent message. This book begins to fill this void by seeking to identify the message of these chapters through utilization of a literary-theological approach. The study focuses on literary features, including the broader issues of surface and deep structure, while other topics of special concern include rhetoric as the art of composition for the purpose of communication and persuasion, and the use of speech as an important indicator of key issues in Hebrew narrative.

Daniel Lowery commences this work by suggesting that history is a subjective enterprise—it is controlled by those who record it. The power of the present decides what is counted as history, and how the rest of us are told about the past shapes our view of it and, concomitantly, our outlook for the future. In this sense, then, history fundamentally shapes the future. Few questions are more basic to human existence than Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my place in this world? The earliest chapters of Genesis have oriented hearers and readers for millennia in their attempts to address these concerns. And so, in several respects, Genesis shapes the future. In this study, Lowery sets out to understand more accurately ancient Near Eastern language and claims about origins, specifically claims found in Gen 1–11. He uses Gen 4:17–22 as a test case representing the Hebrew tradition explaining how the world came to be civilized. Lowery observes that this passage serves a function within the larger narrative of Gen 1–11 akin to other ancient Near Eastern traditions of civilized beginnings. Moreover, it occupies a place in the overarching “narrative of beginnings” corresponding to what we find elsewhere throughout the ancient world. Lowery focuses mainly on Mesopotamia, leaving other cultures for later study. This study aims to demonstrate that much of the language of Gen 1–11 is similar in many ways to its Mesopotamian counterparts. More explicitly, here is an exploration of the nature of the language and terms of Gen 1–11 to ascertain what truths it communicates and how it communicates them. At its core, this is a study of the genre and generic claims of protohistory as found in Gen 1–11.

This book invites a close textual encounter with the first 11 chapters of Genesis as an intimate drama of marginalised peoples wrestling with the rise of the world’s first grain states in the Mesopotamian alluvium. The initial 11 chapters of Genesis are often considered discordant and fragmentary, despite being a story of beginnings within the context of the Bible. Readers discover how these formative chapters cohere as a cross-generational account of peoples grappling with the hegemonic spread of domesticated grain production and the concomitant rise of the pristine states of Mesopotamia. The book reveals how key episodes from the Genesis narrative reflect major societal revolutions of the Neolithic period in Mesopotamia through a three-fold hermeneutical method: literary analysis of the Bible and contemporary cuneiform texts; modern scholarship from archaeological, anthropological, ecological, and historical sources; and relevant exegesis from the Second Temple and rabbinical era. These three strands entwine to recount a generally sequential story of the earliest archaic states as narrated by non-elites at the margins of these emerging state spaces. The Dawn of Agriculture and the Earliest States in Genesis 1–11 provides a fascinating reading of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, appealing to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and the Near East, as well as those working on ecological injustice from a religious vantage point.

This commentary offers a synthesis of close readings of Genesis 1-11 and up-to-date study of the formation of these chapters in their ancient Near Eastern context. Each interpretation of these evocative and multilayered narratives is preceded with a new translation (with textual and philological commentary) and a concise overview of the ways in which each text bears the marks of its shaping over time. This prepares for a close reading that draws on the best of older and newer exegetical insights into these chapters, a reading that then connects to feminist, queer, ecocritical, and other contemporary approaches.