Max Hull Questions Dr Thomas 1-17-2019 1. What do you think are the theological or religious implications of the complicated process by which the Bible was shaped? (see pages 3–13) The theological and religious implications the bible was shaped by was complicated due to a number of reasons. First would be canonization, where there was a list made of the books that went into the bible. This was complicated because each reeligions (Judaism, Christians, Roman Catholics) had a different way of organizing and putting books into canonization. There is also textual criticism of the bible that is related to mistakes made when copying the Bible either by accident or on purpose due to previously thought of mistakes. Today, we use textual criticism to come closer to finding the exact version by comparing manuscripts to an original (reconstructed). Scholars also have to look at the change in language and how things may have been changed in the translation process like the original King James version of the bible to the latest Common English Bible. 2. In what context does the name “Israel” first appear in the Bible and how does its meaning change over the course of biblical history? (see pages 15–16) The first time Israel appears in the bible is Gen 32.28 when Jacob was renamed “Israel” by an angel. The name has changed over time to be the twelve tribes of Israel to the kingdom of Israel. It has become a place in current times and in ancestral times. 3. What impact did the experience of exile have on the formation of the Bible? (see pages 20–23) The experience of exile helped to form the Bible because during the Babylonian exile the Judeans swore to remember Yahweh which led to them writing much of their struggles down and becoming more community based in remembering all of the stories and putting them into writing. 4. In Genesis 1:1-2:25, what evidence do you find to suggest that there are two creation narratives? How do these narratives differ? Where do they start and end? (read the biblical text) The evidence that there are two creation stories begins at 1:1 with “In the beginning when God created the heavens and earth,” ending at 2:3. This portion talks about him creating the plant life and rivers as well as the first two humans after seven days. He made the humans after forming everything. The second part of creation begins at 2:4 and it starts with, “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,” where he spoke of creating plants then humans by bringing them from the dirt and making them breath by blowing air in their nostrils. Then the garden of Eden was created. 5. What are the similarities and differences between the biblical account of creation in Gen 1:1–2:4 and the Babylonian account of creation in Enuma Elish? (see pages 30–36) A similarity between the Gen and Babylonian was that humans were going to be, and were, made into being. They also both, in the creation portion, split something to make something, like God splitting the water and Marduk splitting Tiamat. Differences would be the fact that one in monotheistic and the other is not. The Bible has only one God and that is made clear while the Enuma Elish has many Gods but one king of Gods who makes the decisions. Another difference is that one creation tells the story of violence and battle while God simply speaks about how he created things. 6. What surprised or challenged you about Phyllis Trible’s interpretation of Genesis 2–3? I was surprised to learn that ‘adham is a word that is androgynous and that in the original scripture of the Bible men and women were created equally because if women was made to help men and God helped the prophets then the term of helping would be positive and necessary. This article was really interesting and I enjoyed learning all of the old vocabulary that went into the bible and what things really mean and how it could have gotten confused.
