The Blog of Jack Holloway

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Book Review: Disturbing Divine Behavior by Eric Seibert

Seibert, Eric A. Disturbing Divine Behavior: Troubling Old Testament Images of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.
pp. xii + 347. $22.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-6344-5. ★★☆☆☆


I have recently started picking up every book that I can find about divine violence in the Old Testament (a probable Master's thesis). The first, thanks to my friend Matt for lending it to me, was Eric Seibert's Disturbing Divine Behavior.

Seibert does a good job explaining the importance of thinking rightly about God (or, at least, not thinking horribly about God), citing examples of people using violent depictions of God to justify their own violent purposes. He also provides a strong case that the ways of looking at disturbing divine behavior in the OT proposed in the past are inadequate and we are in need of a new perspective.

That being said, his suggestion does not provide us with anything better. He essentially makes the case that the narratives of divine violence in the OT are not actual historical accounts, and that Israel was operating under a flawed theological worldview; furthermore, Jesus shows us who God is, and that in many ways the way Israel thought of God is simply wrong and should be rejected.

I sympathize with this view to an extent. I understand the OT as consisted of the people of Israel trying to find out who God is, formulating different theologies as they go along. To the Jewish people, Yahweh is, in many ways, a mystery; and Jesus, for Christians, solves that mystery. So while I sympathize with this aspect of his argument, Seibert's perspective has problems.

For one, he spends too much time on the historical problem. The majority of his argument is spent defending a negative view of the "historical" narratives in the OT. This fails to address Walter Brueggemann’s focus, which is undeterred by historical criticism and deals mainly with Israel’s testimony about Yahweh.(1) Or as Peter Craigie says, "although the historical reality of the wars of conquest may perhaps be removed . . ., the theological ideal remains."(2) Saying it didn’t happen does not even begin to solve the problem.

I suspect he spent so much time with the historical question because of his audience, which clearly consists of undergrads and lay people; the way he writes, and the fact that most of the book consists of introductions to concepts, attests to this. He could imagine how difficult it would be for any normal, Bible-believing Christian to face his view of OT history. If this is a true assessment of his purpose, it is hard to imagine his attempt to be successful. In many places, Seibert is far too bluntly negative to inspire Evangelical Christians. Throughout the book, he says things that most church-goers would be shocked to hear. Peter Enns, in Inspiration and Incarnation, did a good job meeting Evangelicals at their level, and gently leading them to his understanding.(3) The same cannot be said of Seibert.

This leads me to the next problem with Seibert's perspective: his view is too minimalist to be adopted by even a good portion of Christians today. Does he really expect a lot of Christians to go along with a view that outright rejects most OT portrayals of God? They would be forced to discard views espoused in the majority of their canon. Seibert's perspective rides too close to Marcionism for it to be widely accepted in churches.

Another problem with Seibert's view is that it cannot provide anything for Jewish people. I can’t imagine a Jew being okay with any of the points Seibert makes, and I find it odd that an OT scholar like Seibert displays such a lack of regard for Jewish sentiments, as he demeans the ancient Jewish testimony about Yahweh, and is definitely guilty of supersessionism.

My final problem with Seibert's book is technical, rather than ideological. I can't tell if Seibert was, for lack of a better phrase, dumbing down his language, or if he just isn't a very good writer. I don't think I've read a book in which someone repeats phrases as many times as Seibert does. Also, he often included unnecessary asides to remind the reader of something that was not in need of reminding. For example, in a small section on the incarnation, he repeated again and again that Jesus was God incarnate, God in human flesh. At one point, I sarcastically asked my wife, to whom I was reading the book, "Hey, do you think he believes that Jesus is God incarnate? I can't tell." I often felt like this. (Also, he must have had a horrible editor; the book has errors on practically every other page.)

Despite its flaws, Seibert’s book does have many strengths: his recognition of the importance of facing violent passages instead of ignoring them, as well as the importance of addressing this problem appropriately, in a way that inspires good moral behavior and a consistent theology. Also, the fact that he faces the barbaric nature of many passages in the OT, rather than pretending that they’re not as bad as they are. He also assesses well the inadequacy of several other perspectives on this issue, and is refreshingly open to the findings of OT historical criticism (although, he may be going too far). Finally, I respect the amount of weight he puts on the need for a Christocentric hermeneutic. Disturbing Divine Behavior does not provide a bad assessment of divine violence, but it does provide another inadequate explanation. While this isn’t the most well-constructed argument, nor is it the most well-written book, it certainly offers a lot of good insight on this issue, and provides an angle that, at least, needs to be on the table.

Notes:
(1) See Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997)
(2) Peter Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1978), 50.
(3) Peter Enns, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005).

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Because I'm Not Afraid

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. (1 Cor. 13:11)

Before I went to college, I believed many things.
I considered myself a Republican.
I thought gay marriage should be illegal.
I agreed with the statement, "the Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it."
I thought Job was an actual historical figure.
I didn't think there were any contradictions in the Bible.
I thought everything in Genesis 1-11 was literal history, and that evolution is just secular science that opposes God.
I thought that hell was forever, and that all homosexuals are going to hell.
I thought that it was bad for people not to speak in tongues.
I thought that it was bad to be Catholic.
I agreed with the Just War theory, and with capital punishment.
I thought that God knows everything that is ever going to happen in the future.

I could go on, but you get it.

Now, I am a Christianarchist, and would never consider myself conservative or Republican.
I think gay marriage should be legal.
I have a very different perspective on Scripture.
I no longer think Job was a real person, nor do I think much of Genesis 1-11 is literal history.
I recognize the contradictions in Scripture, and they don't bother me because I no longer operate under an inerrantist mindset.
I believe in universal reconciliation.
I think a lot of conservative Christians are going to be surprised at how many homosexuals end up in heaven.
I don't speak in tongues, and I don't have a problem with that.
I love a lot of Catholic theologians and respect devout Catholics.
I am a pacifist.
and I am an open theist.

It's not that I was brain-washed into being liberal. I'm graduating this December from Pat Robertson's school!
It's not that I hung out with the wrong people and they inspired me to compromise all my beliefs.
It's not that I live in sin and compromise my beliefs because of that.
It's not that I hate my parents and rejected everything they ever taught me. I couldn't love my parents more. Besides, they didn't teach me all of the things listed at the top.
It's not that I got involved with a bunch of liberals and they changed me. Most of my friends are much more conservative in these areas than I am.
It's not that I jumped to the other extreme. You might call me a liberal, but I don't like being on one side of the fence.

It's because I search for truth.
It's because I'm not afraid to change what I believe based on what I find.
It's because I learned how to use doubt productively, instead of calling it fear or sin and ignoring it.
It's because I asked questions, and, instead of embracing "mystery," I went deeper to find answers.
It's because I'm not okay with pat answers, and believing things that don't make any sense, or believing things because that's what the people around me believe, or believing things because it's "orthodox," or believing things because that's the way the people around me interpret the Bible.
It's because I'm not okay with rejecting critique of my beliefs simply because it might result in me changing what I believe.
It's because I don't want to be naive. I don't want to live in an ignorant bliss.

Am I going to be an open theist forever? Am I going to be a universalist forever? I don't know. Possibly not. The future is open ;)
I think open theism is true. I think universal reconciliation is true. But does that mean I'm not open to changing that in the future? No.
If what I find in my search for truth points away from one of my beliefs, I will re-evaluate.

I know I'm not always this way. We all have our caves.
I know I am stubborn in ways, and unwavering in many of my beliefs.
But for the most part, I try to be genuinely always reforming.
My problem with the statement, "Reformed and always reforming," is that it is mostly used by people who don't actually do any reforming.

My main point with this blog is this:
Don't be stubborn with your beliefs.
Don't reject a radically different view simply because it's radically different.
Don't get too comfortable with your ideology that you reject all others simply because they don't fit.
Question your views.
Question your interpretations of Scripture.
Consider other viewpoints.
Consider your critics.
Consider views that you find daunting.
If you don't, there's a good chance you'll end up in an ignorant bliss--one that you call 'biblical truth' but is really naivete.

Guest Post: Paul's Response to My Assessment of His Commentary of Genesis 2

[Read John Daniel's original response to Paul's blog here]
 
John,

By writing that the Bible is God’s self-revelation I more meant in the sense of written revelation, not sole revelation to humanity. I would certainly amen your stating that Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation. I don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive.

As for academia, I suppose if push came to shove, I would also agree that academia allows for other things to aid in interpretation, at least at schools like Regent (although much more liberal universities do endorse a more heavy form criticism). However, I would say, and I think this is what I meant but perhaps didn’t say in the best way in order to amplify the point, the grammatical-historical context is chief, which any other contexts (theological, etc.) being subordinate to it. Your analysis of the history of Christian exegesis in defense of this practice does stir some questions: Were Christians wrong interpreting as they did, and if so, why is the theological interpretation of Scripture currently making strong inroads into exegesis? If it was wrong, how come the grammatical-historical position never really took off beyond academia? Can the method be found in any major way before the Enlightenment, and if not, what does that mean? Lastly, doesn’t the New Testament teach that Christians should read the Old Testament through a specific Christocentric lens, which would in many cases go against what the author allegedly intended?

In regards to my “sovereign God” motif, I did perceive that it might be viewed as not having been defended adequately from the text itself. My support for this conclusion, however, came by two ways. First, I did specifically iterate in my opening paragraph. The second of which was a central themes approach, where the Bible is oriented around several themes, of which one would be “one, sovereign God, Who operates with two motivations; the first of which is His worthiness of praise throughout His creation” (though if stated officially as an overarching biblical theme, I might have phrased it less local to the Genesis 2 account). Secondly, I did labor to set Genesis 2 in a very close relation to Genesis 1, which was then cast in a liturgical light. Here, God is cast as sovereign in that He creates, and His praiseworthiness is demonstrated by the tabernacle correlation (p.s. thank you for the article suggestions on this theme; I will check them out).

You go on to mention some Trinitarian distinctives, which I think would be a better conversation over a cup of coffee as semantics might come into play. I would agree that each member defers glory to the others, but when viewed at a distance, could it not be said this is a self-glorifying venture? The three are one after all. Trinitarian matters seem to turn on a matter of perspective as there are the two aspects of diversity in three separate persons and unity of one God involved. Often emphasizing one aspect or spectrum-end to establish a point results in the neglect of the other.

Next, Adam, Eve, and complementarianism. I did, at your suggestion, read your article. There are several direct line of rebuttal that could be undertaken here; but they really almost require their own series of full-on posts, and they are somewhat dependent upon the presuppositions one brings to the text. To avoid getting too lost in the fray, I’ll just mention a couple broad points. First, complementarianism is supported by the complete teaching of Scripture on the subject. So any and all relevant passages must be surveyed, which would take one far beyond Genesis 2. Second, I think there is a bit of a straw man in your argument. No one is calling women “mere afterthought[s],” etc. Thirdly, the debate, theologically framed, is complementarianism vs. egalitarianism. In contrast, if the former is set against feminism, which is how you framed the debate, I would submit that some of the bias motivating one’s agenda is revealed. Lastly, even granting all of what you presented (which I wouldn’t), the fact that Genesis 2 is pre-fall, as you explicitly point out to distinguish between Adam's Genesis 2 naming of woman and his Genesis 3 naming of Eve, has to be reckoned with. We are still living in an age where the actions of the First Adam have influence. Men still work by the sweat of their brow, women still have pain in child birth, both still return to the dust from which they came, and serpents still crawl on their bellies. It seems these will not be restored until the next age begins. So, they would still be in effect today. Ergo, there is some sort of role hierarchy within marriage (which can be approached in a God-prescribed way through the aforementioned teaching on the subject from the entire canon). In closing this part of the response, I could have mentioned the naming of the animals and probably would, have I the chance again.

In terms of authorship, I believe there is ample intrabiblical support for Mosaic authorship. Jointly, as to the academics claiming otherwise, there are as you mentioned those who do not affirm the documentary hypothesis. But mainly, I lean on the biblical record itself. In regards to the ex nihilo doctrine, I could equally argue the passage doesn’t support any other conclusion than God creating out of nothing. One’s presuppositions will determine how one interprets the passage. For me, the overwhelming biblical testimony seems to support the ex nihilo belief.

I figured you wouldn’t comment on the opening verses of Genesis 2. In truth, I almost didn’t. Everyone groups the seventh day with the events of chapter 1. In the end, I included it because it is technically in chapter 2. The word in Hebrew simply means to desist, that God abstained from creative work.(1) Coupled with, again, a fuller biblical context, it can in no way imply that God was tired so much that He needed a break, as He does not grow weary from exercising His power. I would wholeheartedly allow for and agree with God resting for the purpose of modeling the Sabbath, which would perhaps be a dynamically equivalent paraphrase: God "Sabbathed."(2) I would also posit that the other translative suggestions I mentioned in my original post don’t do injustice to the text. My point was to highlight God’s nature not necessarily what His action implied for man.

With you, I thoroughly enjoyed this discussion and would love to do it again sometime! Brainstorm we will indeed sir! Formally, I do thank you for your efforts and time.


Paul Imbrone holds an Associate's Degree in Practical Theology, and is a senior in Biblical-Theological Studies at Regent University (find his blog here). 





Notes:
(1) John MacArthur, The Macarthur Bible Commentary: Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 12.
(2) Gordon J. Wenham et al., eds., New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, 4th ed. (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1994), 61.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

A Response to Paul Imbrone's Assessment of My Blog on Genesis 2

[Read Paul's response to John Daniel's blog here]

Paul,

I think my assessment does apply to authorial intent, because I think the author of the narrative's intent was to take ancient Near Eastern myths and use them to point to Yahweh, the incomparable one true LORD God.

To your question that I may be excluding divine revelation in the text by denying the narrative's literal history: I think the logic here is a little funny. We have to receive books of the Bible for what they are: Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Job--these are books that have to be received certain ways, and cannot all be treated the same way. When you say I could be excluding divine intention by denying the creation accounts any literal history, you're assuming the creation narratives might have actually been written to record literal history. When you study whether or not this is the case, it becomes obvious that that was not the author's intention at all. I am not going to make a full case for this claim, but I'll provide a couple examples to make the point: The Genesis creation accounts use mythical images that pre-date Genesis by hundreds of years. Also, the ancient Near East, including the Jewish people, believed in a structure of the world that we know now not to be true. For example, the sun, to them, was the thing that moved, not the earth (see Josh. 10:12; Ps. 104:5; 19:6; Ecc. 1:5, to cite a few). The picture above is an illustration of how ancient Israelites viewed the cosmos (I took the picture with my iPhone, it comes from Peter Enns' book Inspiration and Incarnation, haha).

These examples show that Israelites did not have a perfect understanding of the universe and how it operated/came into being. And why would they? These are ancient people who had nowhere near the scientific data that we have today (and I'm not just referring to evolution; I'm also referring to the earth's rotation around the sun, the fact that the earth is a sphere, the fact that the earth is not made up of a big piece of land surrounded on all sides by water, and others). Why should we expect ancient Israelites to know things they would have no way of knowing? Because they received revelation from God? Why was it important for God to tell them how the universe actually operated? Such issues were not concerns for them.

Oh, I get it; it's because the Bible has God as its ultimate author, and if he wrote things about the universe, then they have to be true. Well, a lot of the Bible is not going to make a lot of sense until we divorce ourselves from this concept. Not only is the belief not necessary, but it is nowhere taught by Jesus, or anyone else in whose authority we put our faith. My problem with inerrantists is that they expect way too much from the Bible. They are not realistic about what the Bible actually is, and in an attempt to make Scripture something in which people can put their faith, they over-step and make it out to be something it was never intended to be. Once you look at all the evidence, it is, in my mind, impossible to go return to the view that the creation accounts record actual history. If your view of Scripture doesn't allow for that possibility, I think you're expecting too much from the Bible, and not being very realistic about what it actually is.

There's my rant for today. Haha.

You asked, What is the purpose of attempting to show that the Genesis account is not completely unique? (I like your use of 'attempting'). The point of doing that was to set the stage for the purpose of my post, which was to show how Yahweh is unlike the gods of the ancient Near East. I wanted to show that the Genesis accounts are up to their neck in the ancient Near Eastern culture, so that I could point to the author's intent, which I think was to present the incomparability of Yahweh to an ancient Near Eastern people.

I wish you would have expanded on your claim that my open theist views were making their way into my interpretation of the text. You didn't give me an example. Maybe, if you had, I could have explained to you why the text leads me to make such a claim; or, maybe there was something with which I could admit that I was taking poetic license with the text (which is not impossible!).

I can see that, in a mythical reading of Genesis 2, it would seem odd to claim that the human participated in God's creation of the world. "Wait, doesn't he deny that this is actual history? What is he saying?" I think the narrative points to the reality that we were created to help bring creation forward. We were created to care for the earth, to procreate (which literally consists of humans participating in God's creative activity), and to reign over it. My point was that humans are the gardeners with God in the Garden of Eden, which symbolizes our duty to care for creation and help bring it forward. It also points to the power that God has given humanity. That the human in the creation narrative participates in the creative activity of God shows that God invited humanity to play a significant role in the production of human history.

When I said that God doesn't always get his way, I was pulling from Genesis 3. He gave them a command (which implies that they have the power to oppose his will, because his will is for them to follow his command) and in chapter 3, they break the command, opposing his will. Again, clearly this is a God that doesn't always get his way.

I find your comments on God's self-glorification...odd, to say the least. You're comparing God's self-glorification to selfies on Facebook? While I applaud you for realizing that the doctrine of God's self-glorification implies narcissism (or maybe your comment doesn't go that far), I find it funny that you don't see this as a problem. Do we really serve an ego-maniacal, self-obsessed God?

Also, your assessment of God creating humanity in his--or, better, their--image is presumptuous. The text does not imply self-glorification. God says, "let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness" (1:26). Christians can apply the Trinity to this statement, but even without the doctrine of the Trinity, a better (but not necessarily correct) interpretation would be that humans were created in the relational image of God, in which it is not good for us to be alone (2:18). But even if you don't like this interpretation, self-glorification is not in the text. God could be being narcissistic when he says "let's create humanity to be like us," but this is not at all necessary. If we do apply the doctrine of the Trinity to this scene (and why shouldn't we?), it would be much better to say that the Trinity wanted to create more participants in their relation of love. After all, God is love, so if God is to make humans in his image, love will be at the front of the list; and not love of self (if God is narcissistic, doesn't that imply that we should be the same way?), but other-focused love, Trinity love.

Finally, while I do think we should worship God, you impose on the narrative when you assert that there should be an emphasis on the human's call to worship God in an assessment of Genesis 2. Nowhere in this narrative is that call made.

Paul, this has been a lot fun. We should try to think of something else on which we can collaborate. Let's try a different format next time. Maybe a Q&A? Or maybe we put up a passage and post one blog with our initial responses to the passage, and then responses to each other. Let's brainstorm.

God Bless!

Guest Post: Paul's Response to My Assessment of Genesis 2

[Read John Daniel's original post here]

John,

First, I must say that I love your style. When I look at my post, the word “functional” comes to mind. When I look at your post, with its sweet background, ethereal religious artwork, and cool section headings, there is a definite ambiance that pulls me into a fuller experience while reading. I don’t know what it is, but I like it. Aesthetics aside, I, like you, really enjoyed reading your post. Our different takes on Genesis 2 complement our different views and, from my perspective, proved refreshing as I thought through your thoughts on our shared subject. Humorously, your intro began almost precisely where I did not want to go, and that gave me a good laugh (and even a smile as I write this sentence). Sir, we are truly wired differently, but, as I’ve said before, I think we may have more to agree about than we do to disagree.

Beginning with some praise, I would first like to commend the way you apologetically defend the biblical account by focusing on the attributes and actions that set the God of the Bible apart from these other ancient myths. The method tries to be fair to academic interest while still being faithful to what I would call the genuine relational aspect involved with the living Christian God; and in this sense, it’s a very neo-orthodox approach, a label I’m sure you by no means mind. And on my end, it is a shade of what I find admirable in neo-orthodox thought: the appeal to God Himself. Along with that, I applaud your desire to view the text theocentrically. Genesis 2, as with all Scripture, is primarily about Him. Your comments on His care in creating Adam are also warmly received. Now, as this is a response to your post, I suppose I should draw some sort of alternative viewpoint on what you’ve written.

I do appreciate advertising the direction your post will not being going in your intro (I did nearly the same), but does admitting you will not be interacting with authorial intention, as well revealing your disbelief in any literalness in terms of history, perhaps exclude any divine intention that may be contained within the text? Obviously, the aforementioned revelatory aspects concerning God’s character and attributes are present, but does not authorship, whether divine or human, add to the particularity of any biblical text in conjunction with any larger general characteristics inherent within Scripture? That is, all texts may generally teach us about God and His character, but is that all they teach? Further, in comparing the Genesis accounts with extrabiblical sources, I must ask, what is the purpose of attempting to show that the Genesis account is not completely unique? Does it claim utter uniqueness or does its veracity depend upon utter distinction?

Moving on to your section entitled “Yahweh is not the only one with something to say; nor is he the only one with something to do and the power to do it,” I tend to agree with much of the examples when listed individually (God wants involvement from His creatures, God allows and wants our communication, etc.); however, grouped as they are under such a heading and coupled with some of the later quotes from Trible and Fretheim, the section seems to be hinting at some unexpressed theological point. Coming off the heels of your closing statement from the previous section (“Yahweh is deeply affected by his relationship with humans”), and I wonder if some of your open theism views aren’t finding their way into your exegesis. God is of course affected by His relationship with humans, but in what way and to what extent needs elaboration and contextualization, a balance between His immanence and His transcendence.

Also, the quote by Fretheim stating that implies human decision helped in creation of the world seems misguided, or at least mis-worded, especially within an interpretive framework that assumes Adam and Eve are representative of Israel (a point that seems completely unjustified from the text itself, but I’ll only mention it in passing, since you did the same. Really, I would have liked to see this proposition more developed from the text because of both its magnitude and bookend-ish nature within your post). And while I could appreciate the Jolle quote that immediately follows (marked footnote 14), it would need some sort of prefacing, such as “allegorically,” “symbolically,” or “devotionally” in order to hold more weight. Left uncategorized, it comes off extremely mystical almost unto a Gnostic level.

Moving on to “The human will can stand against the will of Yahweh,” and I wonder if my theological suspicions above are being confirmed. “Here is a God who does not always get his way.” Confirmed? As you would guess, I wouldn’t agree with such a claim; but more importantly, from the text, I don’t see that such a statement can be inferred. Textually, God is only asserting a prescriptive will for His Adam and Eve; nothing more. It’s says nothing of any decretive will or overarching divine, which clearly come in when the passage is considered in a wider canonical context of a creation-fall-redemption metastory.

In closing, your summary about Genesis 2 teaching about God’s character is provocative. I would submit that within a context of Genesis 1, creating man in His image does allude to some sort of self-glorification. Who after all creates an image of himself without at least some desire of relishing in that image? Think profile pics on social media sites. In relation to my largely liturgical treatment and greater biblical-theological motifs in Scripture, I would also allow more room for the worshipful aspect with which man was created. As you say though, God’s love for humanity is unquestionably displayed, and He is shown superior to any and all challengers.

[Read John Daniel's response to this here]

Paul Imbrone holds an Associate's Degree in Practical Theology, and is a senior in Biblical-Theological Studies at Regent University (find his blog here). 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

A Response to Paul Imbrone's Commentary on Genesis 2

[Read Paul's original post here]

Paul,

I find it interesting that at times we made the same points, and at other times we are quite far apart in our thinking. For example, you start off by saying that the Bible is God's self-revelation; whereas I would say it contains God's self-revelation, because God's ultimate self-revelation is Jesus. While this, of course, isn't a central point of your paper--and, as far as I could tell, our differing views of Scripture didn't affect our essays--I figured I'd point it out, just so people know that this is an area in which we are quite different. Mostly, I only noticed small things like this with which I disagreed. Generally, I enjoyed your post very much and found it to be a good assessment.
Now, to my response.

First of all, academia does not posit that socio-cultural context, grammar, and historical setting are everything, but that they are essential to understanding the passage, which they indeed are. Christians spent way too many centuries reading texts at face value and imposing their worldviews on them, yielding results that are contrary, or at least in conflict, with the original intended meaning (the chapter we're studying is a perfect example of when this has occurred!). I have found that passages become more powerful when the proper exegetical tools are incorporated in the study (not that your point was that they shouldn't be used).

I also had trouble with what you say is the main theme of the narrative, which "is that of one, sovereign God, Who operates with two motivations; the first of which is His worthiness of praise throughout His creation." I find it interesting that this motif isn't really mentioned in the rest of your post; and I'm not surprised, as I find it hard to maintain. What in the text points to such an understanding? You yourself said that the narrative is "very man-centered," and it really is.

A gem I thought your essay had was the bit about the tabernacle and its connection to creation. This is something I came upon in my research but didn't find relevant for my trajectory. I even found that the Garden of Eden correlates to the tabernacle, as well as the temple, in striking ways. John Walton provides that "the waters flowing through the garden in Genesis 2 are paralleled by the waters flowing from the temple in Ezekiel 47:1-12 (cf. Ps 46:4; Zech 14:8; Rev 22:1-2)."(1) Furthermore, David Chilton finds it very significant that both the Garden and the Tabernacle were entered on the east side (see Gen. 3:24 & Ex. 27:13-16). He says, "to enter God’s presence through redemption is a gracious re-admittance to Eden."(2) Gordon Wenham highlights some other similarities: "kĕrûbîm [from Gen. 3:24], Akkadian kuribu, were the traditional guardians of holy places in the ancient Near East" (see 1 Kgs 6:23-29; Ex.. 25:18-22, 26:31); also, the Tree of Life resembles the tabernacle menorah (Ex. 25:31-35) and points to the life-giving element of the sanctuary; finally, the human’s duty in the garden is the same as that of the Levites in the sanctuary (see Gen. 2:15 & Num. 3:7-8, 8:26, 18:5-6).(3) If you are interested in further pursuing this topic, you should check out Walton's The Lost World of Genesis 1, Wenham's article "Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story," and Chilton's Paradise Restored. The presence of tabernacle/temple images in the creation narratives shows us that there's something else going on here other than a simple historical telling of the creation of the world.

I am also pleased that you pointed out the man-centered nature of the narrative, and its subsequent stress of God's "thorough and genuine concern for the well-being of humanity." This, you say, can be seen in God's emotional recognition that man was alone; being a relational, Trinitarian being, as you pointed out, God wanted man to be so relational. Here, we are very much singing the same song. However, you say in your Trinitarian comment that "God glorifies himself within the Trinity." This may be true indirectly (in the Trinity's oneness), but I would say that each member of the Trinity is other-focused, glorifying each other. In this, it is not self-glorification, but, for lack of a less hippie phrase, a circle of love.

I'm glad you covered the male-female relationship. I came upon this issue a lot in my research. Your comments on the role of the woman in the narrative, however, are typical of complementarians: you say the husband is head over the wife, and then stress their equality (using a beautiful Matthew Henry quote, I might add--one with which he rises above his usual lack of profound insight). Many rightfully find that to be a very deficient "equality." You should read my recent blog on this topic (here) that I wrote during my research for our collaboration, in which I address the points you bring up regarding this issue. Side note: I'm surprised you didn't connect the 'naming = sovereignty' point to the human's naming of the animals, showing man's sovereignty over the earth.

There were a few other minor things that I found that highlight our differences. I find it surprising that you attribute authorship to Moses (or at least alluded to the idea). Most OT scholars abandoned the idea of Mosaic authorship a long time ago. I am interested to hear your response to Gen. 12:6, 14:14 (cf. Judg. 18:29), and 36:11, the historical details of which make it highly improbable that the author was Moses. As someone who accepts the documentary hypothesis, this is another point on which we differ greatly.

I also disagree that the passage supports the ex nihilo doctrine in the concrete way you seem to assume (and am a little surprised you didn't come upon that in your research, as almost every commentary I used acknowledges this). Am I going to argue that God can't/didn't create out of nothing? No. But my point is: this passage itself doesn't support the doctrine.

My final response point regards your assessment of God resting. In my post, I didn't deal with vv.1-4a, as they are really part of the first creation narrative (maybe I should have told you I was planning to do it that way?), but I do want to respond to your conclusion there. I don't think lack of mention of God exerting himself is a good enough reason to reject the word 'rested'. Some would say that the very work of creation in six days was God exerting himself. Some would also say that the point is not that God is exhausted, but that God was modeling a way of abundant living, one which includes a day of rest at the end of several days of working.(4) Walter Brueggemann, for one, would have some problems with your assessment, as he describes beautifully the need for the Sabbath day of rest, even for God.(5) I'm not sure if I agree with Brueggemann's theological conclusion here, but I don't disagree with it outright. That may be my next point of study; we'll see.

Overall, I enjoyed your post, and definitely enjoyed the collaboration. This has been fun.

[Read Paul's response to this here]

Notes:
(1) John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis 1 (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 81-82.
(2) David Chilton, Paradise Restored (Reconstruction Press, 1985), 29
(3) Gordon Wenham, "Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story," in "I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood": Ancient Near Eastern, Linguistic, and Literary Approaches to Genesis 1-11, eds. Richard Hess and David Toshio Tsumura (Eisenbrauns, 1994), 401.
(4) See Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1982), 35-36.
(5) I'm sure he makes this point in writing somewhere, but I have only heard him makes this claim in presentations. See his, "Sabbath as a Means of Transition from Anxious Scarcity to Grateful Abundance," presented at Eastern Mennonite University. This is episode 250 on the EMU podcast on iTunes.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Guest Post: A Commentary on Genesis 2 by Paul Imbrone

My friend Paul Imbrone and I have been working on a collaboration on the theology of Genesis 2. Part 1 of this collaboration consists of individual posts on each of our blogs (in case you haven't read it yet, here is my post). Part 2 of the collaboration will consist of my response to his blog, and his response to mine (both of which I will post here).

This is not meant to be a debate of any kind. While we are of two very different theological convictions (he is reformed), this project is about aspiring biblical theologians approaching a text from different angles as friends and brothers in Christ.

With that said, here is Paul's theological commentary on Genesis 2.

A Commentary on Genesis 2 by Paul Imbrone:
 
First, at the outset, I will be looking at the Genesis 2 text primarily from a theological perspective based in the passage’s immediate literary context and loosely to its relation with the overall canon. So things like socio-cultural context, grammar, and original setting won’t be emphasized, though that doesn’t mean they will necessarily be excluded either. These ancient settings are important to any biblical text; however, I don’t believe they are everything (as academia posits). The Bible is the Word of God: the revelation of Himself (character, will, and attributes) to His people. A revelation framed around a narrative of redemption of sin through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

My thoughts are therefore a mixture of several approaches to biblical theology: (1) “the classic approach,” where “the message and theological content of individual biblical books” precedes the synthesis of these findings into overarching themes across various corpora (Pentateuch, Old Testament, whole Bible, etc.); (2) a central-themes approach, where the Bible oriented through several major scriptural motifs; and (3) the story approach, where a grand metanarrative guides the Bible’s diversity into unity.(1) 

With that bit of presuppositional work in place, let us consider the overall book which houses the passage under discussion. Want to talk about the origins of life from a biblical perspective? Want to talk about Christian anthropology, ethics, epistemology, or ontology? Want to learn about the principal covenant that guides Scripture and the unfolding biblical narrative? For all this and more come to Genesis. “It sets the scene for the rest of Scripture and is one of the most quoted books in the [New Testament].”(2) Narrowing the scope reveals that “the early chapters had arguably a greater influence on Christian theology than did any other part of the Old Testament.”(3) Along with creation, the Fall and significant Adamic Christ typology are also founded upon the opening chapters of Genesis (1-3), that bit of Scripture that records the ex nihilo inception of the cosmos, humanity, and the history that set the stage for God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. 

Genesis 2 finds itself in the midst of all this proto-action. It continues and accentuates the 6 day creation account in chapter 1 and simultaneously sets the scene for the Fall in chapter 3, while rightly standing on its own anthropological contributions to biblical theology as well. Man is made; woman is made; and marriage instituted. No small feat for twenty-five verses. Notably, as a hermeneutic, I would add the main theme governing the narrative is that of one, sovereign God, Who operates with two motivations; the first of which is His worthiness of praise throughout His creation. While the nature of the creation account is not the focal point of a Genesis 2 exegesis, it might be helpful to mention that chapter 1’s creation account can have a liturgical application from a biblical-theological perspective. Some scholars believe “that the seven days of creation directly correspond to seven speeches of God concerning the construction of the Tabernacle”(4) in Exodus 25-32:
the activities of each day of creation correspond to an aspect of the construction of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle and the later Temple are, therefore, intended to represent a microcosm of creation. Among the seven speeches establishing the Tabernacle, the seventh speech concerns the Sabbath, directly paralleling God's own protological Sabbath rest. It stands to reason that if…creation's formation directly corresponds to the erection of the Tabernacle, they both must also serve the same purpose, that is, the worship of God [emphasis added].(5)
 These allusions, which a Moses authorship would correspond with, are compounded by the priestly purpose God intended by creating man in Genesis 2:
The text's descriptions of Adam's activity in the garden possess verbal similarities with the ministrations of the priesthood elsewhere in the Pentateuch. This means that the author of Genesis describes Adam and Eve's care for creation as a true act of grateful worship, making it a liturgical activity.(6)

In other words, “Creation is an immense Tabernacle dedicated to divine worship,”(7) and man is the supreme minister of said worship within creation. It might then be said that it might “that the first humans are portrayed as priests presiding over the cosmic Temple and reflecting divine goodness and glory back to God.”(8)

Before any objections are raised regarding this thoroughly God-centered, doxological aspect of God’s revelation and will in the seemingly very man-centered subject content of Genesis 2, the second part of God’s motivation must also be considered; and that is His thorough and genuine concern for the well-being of humanity. He creates a habitable environment. He fills it with animals. He creates a suitable helper. He gives purpose. He gives language. He gives a mind and a spirit. He furnishes man with right and wrong and jointly provides a code to follow. God fellowships with man.  He graces him with existence and then divine fellowship. Remarkable and truly benevolent, kind, and good in every way. 

With these further thoughts to keep in mind, here is some specific commentary on the Genesis 2 verses themselves: 

2:1-3 God rested. In context “rested” is inappropriate as God is not described at all as having exerted Himself to exhaustion. In fact, no mention of effort on His part is in any way mentioned. Perhaps better is “ceased, desisted, completed His work, [or] stopped working.”(9) Note also the lack of an “evening and morning was the seventh day” clause, as was the established pattern for the six days. God’s ceasing from creative work here was final, and the form break emphasizes that. 

2:4-7 “The Lord God” a phrase common in Genesis 2-3 (used eleven times in chapter 2 alone) but is hardly used elsewhere in the OT, including Genesis 1. The author introduces the title specifically when the creation of man is discussed. The two words convey that God is mankind’s creator and his friend or covenant partner. “The breath of life” in verse 7 signify that man will forever be more than mere matter, mere dust from the ground. He has been imparted with a spiritual element by His Creator God that cannot be coldly explained by materialistic evolutionary science.(10) 

2:8 Devotionally, this verse stuck out to me: “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed” (ESV). God will create circumstances and stick you right in the middle of them. And it can be crazy sometimes. Thankfully, that last part of the verse offers some comfort: “there he put the man whom he had formed” [emphasis added]. God will always prepare you for the situations in life that He puts you in, whether we can understand it or not; He has readied us for His purposes in our lives. 

2:9-17 The aforementioned thorough and genuine concern for the well-being of humanity is expounded here. From ethics to aesthetics and pleasure to purpose, man is given his faculties that separate him from all other creatures. The environment is lush and pleasing; the work good; the rules given. Man has been thoroughly created in the image of God to reflect His glory. 

2:18-25 Here, God’s goodness even moves into the emotional realm. He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. The naming of the animals probably showed Adam that every species had two of a kind and therefore that he was missing his counterpart. And the Trinitarian nature of God Himself also needed some sort of representation in the imago Dei of man. As God fellowships and glorifies Himself within the Trinity, so man could fellowship with a suitable counterpart and together worship and glorify God with their existence and service in the garden. The theme of marriage obviously weighs in heavily at this point in the narrative. Immediately, the context is for humans. First, marriage should be permanent in their united into one flesh (v. 24; cf. cf. Mt. 19:5). Second, the wife is to be the primary relationship for man in life as he leaves his father and mother (v. 24). Third, the husband is also to be head over the wife (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3 and 1 Peter 3:1-6); Adam named Eve (3:20) and called her woman (v. 23), an act that biblically indicates authority over (cf. 2 Kings 23:34; 24:17). Fourth, despite any headship, the two are also equal companions: “he woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved;”(11) yes, the man should even subordinate his desires to those of his wife’s (v.24). So there is biblical roles to fulfill in marriage yes, but there is also total equality within the relationship. Finally, the account does support a one man and one wife marriage situation, not one man and many wives or one man and one man etc.(12)

In brief summary, Genesis 2 is a chapter about God’s goodness. It’s about His design for humanity to come together in celebration of His glory. It’s a description of life under God’s blessing. It’s about epistemological and ontological purity. But, it’s also a foreshadowing of the Second Adam, the second beginning for humanity found in Jesus, and the relationship He has with the Church. So read Genesis 2 to learn about biblical anthropology but also to glimpse at the loving God behind it all. 

[Read John Daniel's response to this here]
 
Paul Imbrone holds an Associate's Degree in Practical Theology, and is a senior in Biblical-Theological Studies at Regent University (find his blog here). 





Notes:
[1] Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Present and Future of Biblical Theology”, Themelios 37, no. 3 (November 2012): 445-64, accessed July 15, 2013, https://tgc-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/themelios/37-3/Themelios37.3.pdf. 
[2] Gordon J. Wenham, “Book of Genesis” in Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible, ed. Kevin J.Vanhoozer (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 246. 
[3] A Louth, Genesis 1-11, quoted in Wenham’s “Book of Genesis” article for the DFTIOTB. 
[4] Jack Kilcrease, “Creation's Praise: A Short Liturgical Reading of Genesis 1-2 and the Book of Revelation”, Pro Ecclesia 21, no. 3 (Summer 2012): 315. 
[5] Ibid., 315-6. 
[6] Ibid., 316. 
[7] Ibid., 317. 
[8] Ibid., 317-318. 
[9] F.F. Bruce, ed., The International Bible Commentary with the New International Version, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 116. 
[10] Gordon J. Wenham et al., eds., New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, 4th ed. (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1994), 62. 
[11] Matthew Henry, Commentary on Genesis 2:21-25, E-Sword. 
[12] Wenham et al., eds., New Bible Commentary, 62-63.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

A Theology of Genesis 2: Yahweh in Relationship

There are many ancient Near Eastern creation narratives, with many similarities to those in the Hebrew Bible.(1) It is for this reason, among many others, that I have found it impossible to view the creation accounts in Genesis as literal history of how the world was actually brought into being.(2) Accepting this has caused me to view Genesis 1-3 much differently: If the purpose of these narratives was not to record actual history, what was the purpose? What were the authors of these narratives trying to say through them? I am not interested in answering these questions here. What I am most interested in is what these narratives say about God; and in this study, I have set out to address what Genesis 2, in particular, says about God.

Genesis 2 and the Ancient Near East

My main purpose here is to give life to the uniqueness of the God of Israel, showing what differentiates him from the gods of the other ancient Near Eastern creation stories. Before I do this, I should share with you some of the commonalities between Genesis 2 and other creation accounts. These are pulled from Peter Enns' book The Evolution of Adam:
  • "A garden/paradise of God/the gods in the east (Enki and Ninhursag; Gilgamesh)
  • Humans created out of dust/clay to cultivate the land (Enki and Ninmah [Sumerian]; Atrahasis; Gilgamesh)
  • Humans infused with the Breath of Life (Instructions of Merikare [Egyptian]) . . .
  • Streams of water supply irrigation to the garden (Enki and Ninhursag) . . .
  • The female made from the male's rib/side (Enki and Ninhursag [referring to a goddess])"(3)
These are not all the similarities, nor would it benefit this study to go through all of them. The point is: Genesis 2 is not completely unique. My concern, then, is how unique Yahweh of Genesis 2 is.

I contend that Yahweh's uniqueness is found in his relationality with the people of Israel (I agree with Enns that Adam & Eve represent Israel in the story).

Yahweh, a God of Relationship

Terence Fretheim provides several characteristics of genuine divine-human relationship:(4)
  • The Yahweh-Israel relationship is such that Yahweh is not the only one with something to say
  • It is also a relationship in which Yahweh is not the only one with something to do and the power to do it
  • Yahweh is genuinely affected by the relationship
  • Yahweh is concerned about the human's entire self
  • In this relationship, the human will can stand against the will of Yahweh
  • The Yahweh-Israel relationship is one in which the future is not all mapped out
All of these characteristics can be found in Genesis 2.

Yahweh is genuinely affected by the relationship and is concerned about the creature's entire self

We begin this section with an astute observation by Bill Arnold:
Gen. 1 portrays the transcendent and sovereign Creator commanding order from chaos by a series of cuts and separations, structuring the world and its inhabitants according to types and categories. Now, 2:4–25 complements that portrait with one in which the immanent and intensely personal Yahweh Elohim, LORD God, shapes humanity from clay like a potter (2:7).(5)
The image of God as potter, says Fretheim, "reveals a God who focuses closely on the object to be created and takes painstaking care to shape each one into something useful and beautiful."(6) Indeed, the human is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14): Yahweh pays acute attention to detail in creating humanity, cautiously engaging in the art of perfecting his craft. This is a God who genuinely cares about humans, unlike the gods of the ancient Near East, to whom the creation of humanity was either an afterthought or an act of selfish gain.(7)

The God depicted in Genesis 2 cares that ādām is alone and wants to provide someone for him (v.18) so that he can be a relational being as Yahweh is ("let us," 1:26).(8) Yahweh is deeply affected by his relationship with humans, and is concerned about their entire selves.

Yahweh is not the only one with something to say; nor is he the only one with something to do and the power to do it

Fretheim says, "Twice, God 'brings' a creature [to the man] . . . [and] lets the human being determine whether [they] . . . are adequate to move the evaluation from 'not good' to 'good.'"(9) Indeed, in verse 23, it is ādām that determines that the creation is good. This reveals that Yahweh wants to receive input from his creatures. He wants their involvement in his creation. In the God-human relationship, Yahweh is not the only being with something to say.

That Yahweh made it so that he was not the only one with something to do and the power to do it can be seen in the incredible responsibility he gives ādām to name all the animals. This might not seem significant to us, but, as Gerhard von Rad provides , "name-giving in the ancient Orient was primarily an exercise of sovereignty."(10) "Without any qualification in the text," Fretheim observes, "whatever the human being called each animal, that was its name (2:19). Whatever!"(11)

Furthermore, Arnold states that by "pronouncing the name of each [animal] as they were created, the human participated in the creative process with God."(12) As Fretheim says, in Genesis 2, "Divine decisions interact with human decisions in the creation of the world."(13) Andre Jolles powerfully conveys the significance of this name-giving:
Man attacks the confusion of the world; by probing, restricting and combining he brings together what belongs together. That which lies piled up in the confusion of the world does not at the start possess its own form; but rather, what is here distinguished with discrimination receives its own form only as it comes together in the analysis.(14
This paints Yahweh as a God who shares power with his creatures. He genuinely cares about what the humans want to do and gives them the power to do it. As Phyllis Trible states, God here is not portrayed as "the authoritarian controller of events but as the generous delegator of power who even forfeits the right to reverse human decisions."(15) Fretheim echoes this, saying "the divine sovereignty in creation is understood, not in terms of absolute divine control, but as a sovereignty that gives power over to the created for the sake of a relationship of integrity."(16)

To step out of our present chapter for a second and go to the first creation narrative, we find a fascinating verse, in which Elohim says to the humans: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and conquer it, and hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and every beast that crawls upon the earth" (1:28). The Hebrew words for 'conquer' and 'hold sway' denote sovereignty, "an absolute or even fierce exercise of mastery."(17) Consider the powerful claims of Ps. 8:5-8:
...you have made [human beings] a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Clearly, Yahweh's purpose was not to be the only being with something to do and the power with which to do it.

The human will can stand against the will of Yahweh

This is evident in the "vocation, permission, and prohibition" that Yahweh gives the humans:(18) "From every fruit of the garden you may surely eat. But from the tree of knowledge, good and evil, you shall not eat, for on that day you eat from it, you are doomed to die" (vv.16b-17) The humans can eat all they want from any tree of the garden, but they are forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Furthermore, the humans were created to till and watch over the earth (v.15), to rule over it (1:28). Walter Brueggemann has observed that, today, the "divine will for vocation and freedom has been lost. The God of the garden is chiefly remembered as the one who prohibits. But the prohibition makes sense only in terms of the other two."(19) Yahweh gave the humans power and freedom, but also a warning of what happens when that power is abused. This warning would be nonsensical if the human will could not stand against Yahweh's will. Here is a God who does not always get his way.

Yahweh shares power, gives freedom, risks his will, and submits to the possibility of opposition. The human will can stand against his.

In the Yahweh-Israel relationship, the future is not all mapped out in advance

"The two trees," Fretheim says, "represent two possible futures: life and death."(20) This motif of two possible futures is found throughout the Hebrew Bible. Here is an example:
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. But if you do not obey these commands, declares the Lord, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.
Jeremiah 22:3-5
What humanity's future will look like is up to their decisions: "All depends on what the humans do with what God presents."(21) Yahweh as revealed in Genesis 2 does not have a blueprint of his will for human history; he leaves human history is up to humans. The image of divine potter in Jeremiah 18 shows a God who adapts to the decisions of his people, not a God who decides their future himself. Is it a coincidence that the potter image can be found in the narrative of creation, the beginning of human history (2:7)?

"O Lord, Who is Like You?"

In Genesis 2, God is not a fully transcendent, self-glorifying figure. His first act as Creator is not to demand worship from the creatures; rather, he focuses on them the whole time! He selflessly gives the human freedom, adheres to the human's needs, receives input from the human, and gives the human power. Genesis 2 reveals that Yahweh, unlike the gods of the ancient Near Eastern creation stories, is concerned with being intimately involved with his people, and sharing with them a genuine relationship, the sustaining of which depends on all of these qualities.(22)

[Read Paul Imbrone's response to this here]

Notes:
(1) For similarities between ancient Near Eastern texts and the Hebrew Bible, see Kenton Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2005); John Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006); Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994); and J.J.M. Roberts, The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays (Eisenbrauns, 2002).
(2) For other reasons, see Peter Enns, The Evolution of Adam (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2012).
(3) Ibid., 55.
(4) These come from a presentation Terence Fretheim gave called "Divine-Human Relationship." This can be found on Itunes U. All but one of the listed characteristics can also be found in his book, God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005), 21-22.
(5) Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 56.
(6) Fretheim, "Genesis," in The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume 1, ed. Leander E. Keck: 319-674 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 349.
(7) Arnold, 58.
(8) See Fretheim, God and World, 56.
(9) Fretheim, "Genesis," 352.
(10) Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1973), 81.
(11) Fretheim, God and World, 58.
(12) Arnold, 60.
(13) Fretheim, God and World, 58.
(14) Andre Jolles, quoted in von Rad, 80-81.
(15) Phyllis Trible, quoted in Fretheim, "Genesis," 352.
(16) Ibid., 356.
(17) Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary (New York: W.W Norton & Co., 1996), 5.
(18) See Walter Brueggemann, Genesis (Lousiville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1982), 46.
(19) Ibid.
(20) Fretheim, "Genesis," 352.
(21) Ibid., 357.
(22) Walton also recognizes this unique quality. See his Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, 110.