Post: Week 1

Staley - Week One

Staley - Week One

by Maxwell Staley -
Number of replies: 3

Hiebert gives us a commentary that compares and contrasts the yahwist and priestly presence in the book of Genesis.
He relies heavily on source criticism to support the claim that the God of the Hebrew Bible values diversity. For example, he uses the stories of how the earth was repopulated after the flood from the yahwist and priestly traditions. They are very different presentations yet both present plurality in humanness. Hiebert would also argue that family and kinship played a key role in the original writer's ideas and interpretation of God. Family and kinship are center stage in each story presented in Genesis across sources. The priestly source finds ancestry so important a family tree is used to transition scenes while the yahwist takes use through the drama of relationship. Hiebert is able to read each story in Genesis through the lens of the presumed author realizing that the Biblical presentation of humanity and it diverse relationships is a conglomeration of views from the lens of the particular author. 


In reply to Maxwell Staley

Re: Staley - Week One

by Ryan Tobin -

Maxwell - I like how you highlight Hiebert's view that the J and P sources use family in different ways. P always seems to use family to get from A to B -- the genealogies -- and rarely focuses on the "content" of these family relationships (the drama, as you aptly put it). I always find it somewhat surprising that the Priestly creation story puts man and woman on an equal level (Gen. 1:27) -- it seems out of place in a source that is always focused on the origins of the (all-male) priesthood. Based on what you and Hiebert state, perhaps the P writer of the creation story just didn't care to get into the drama of male-female relationships (like J did in Gen 2:4 ff.). 

As I think about it, maybe P's "male and female he created them" of Gen 1:27 is just a merism (like "young and old") -- maybe it's not really egalitarian at all. Hmm.

In reply to Ryan Tobin

Re: Staley - Week One

by Julia O'Brien -

Ryan, it is an interesting question about whether the simultaneous creation of male and female implies that their functions are the same. If the P source prioritizes procreation (as it seems to do in Gen 1:28), then perhaps both male and female are valued here for their procreative roles. 

In reply to Maxwell Staley

Re: Staley - Week One

by Julia O'Brien -

Maxwell, you well described how Hiebert uses source criticism to help us understand diverse perspectives in the text.

Did you identify places where his "descriptive theology" spilled over into "constructive theology"? That is, did you think that he brought these insights to bear on issues facing our own times?