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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Genesis 2–11, or the primeval history of the Yahwist tradition, has been assessed theologically in several ways by biblical commentators over the years. The author suggests that this portion of the biblical text may be analyzed from the perspective of a process theological hermeneutic to gain new insights. In particular, one may observe the progressive involvement of Yahweh in the creative activity of establishing a world order, which is not always perfect in its developmental advance. Such a portrayal reflects not an omnipotent deity of classical theology, but rather a personal deity deeply related to the on-going creative processes of this world. Such perceptions of God dovetail well with the assumptions of process theology.
1 Some recent critical scholars, prefer to limit the so-called “primeval history” to Gn 1–9, while maintaining that Gn 10–11 more properly belongs to the patriarchal narratives as a pre-history: Batto, Bernard, Slaying the Dragon (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 69Google Scholar; Hiebert, Theodore, The Yahwist's Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 80–82Google Scholar; and Löning, Karl and Zenger, Erich, To Begin with, God Created …: Biblical Theologies of Creation, trans. Kaste, Omar (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press/Glazier Press, 2000), 100.Google Scholar We shall work with Gn 2–11, because the pattern to be observed in this study can be traced through Gn 11.
2 Blenkinsopp, Joseph, The Pentateuch (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1992).Google Scholar
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5 Blenkinsopp, Pentateuch.
6 Blum, Erhard, Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament 57 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1984)Google Scholar, and Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 189 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990).
7 Hiebert, Yahwist's Landscape.
8 Carr, David, Reading the Fractures of Genesis (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996)Google Scholar, who believes that the “non-P” author wove loose Yahwistic and Elohistic oral fragments together into a unified work, and no separate organized Yahwist or Elohist existed in a self-contained form.
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20 Pittenger, Norman, Process Thought and Christian Faith (New York: Macmillan, 1968)Google Scholar; Reconceptions in Christian Thinking (New York: Seabury, 1968); Alfred North Whitehead (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1969); Christology Reconsidered (London: SCM, 1970); The Christian Church as a Social Process (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971); The Divine Triunity (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1977); Catholic Faith in a Process Perspective (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1981), as well as other volumes.
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24 Hiebert, , Yahwist's Landscape, 63Google Scholar, who points out that although both humans and animals are called nephesh hayya (Gn 2:7, 19), translations provide different English terms in the respective passages to make humanity appear superior to the animals—the King James Version (1611, 1787) translated “living soul” (Gn 2:7) and “living creature” (Gn 2:17), while Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society translation (1985) and the New Revised Standard Version (1991) render the terms “living being” (Gn 2:7) and “living creature” (Gn 2:19) respectively.
25 Louis, Gros, “Genesis I–II,” in Louis, Kenneth Gros, Ackerman, James, and Warshaw, Thayer, eds., Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives (Nashville: Abingdon, 1974), 47–49Google Scholar; and Batto, , Dragon, 53Google Scholar, states, in particular, that the animals were created due to the imperfection in the created order.
26 Batto, , Dragon, 54Google Scholar, says that the woman likewise was created due to the continued imperfection of creation. Thompson, Thomas, The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel (New York: Basic Books, 1999), 84–85Google Scholar, cleverly suggests that the Adam had become increasingly frustrated as Yahweh created each animal, and each one was not the suitable helper, so that when the woman finally was created, the Adam “sings out” with joy after his earlier “exasperation.”
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28 Löning, and Zenger, , God Created, 102.Google Scholar
29 Ibid.
30 Whitehead, , Religion, 77Google Scholar, and Process and Reality, 351; Lowe, , Whitehead, 181–200Google Scholar; Pittenger, , Process Thought, 31–33Google Scholar, and Whitehead, 26, 48–51.
31 Batto, , Dragon, 57.Google Scholar
32 Ibid., 63–64.
33 These passages are discussed in greater detail in Gnuse, , Process Theology, 83–95.Google Scholar
34 Ford, Lewis, The Lure of God: A Biblical Background for Process Theism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 29Google Scholar; Janzen, Gerald, “Metaphor and Reality in Hosea 11,” in Beardslee, William and Lull, David, eds., Old Testament Interpretation from a Process Perspective, Semeia 23 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1982), 44–51.Google Scholar
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36 Louis, Gros, “Genesis 3–11,” 48.Google Scholar
37 Steinmetz, , “Vineyard,” 195–96Google Scholar; and Carr, , Fractures of Genesis, 239.Google Scholar
38 Batto, , Dragon, 69.Google Scholar
39 Hiebert, , Yahwist's Landscape, 80–82Google Scholar; and Löning, and Zenger, , God Created, 100.Google Scholar
40 Louis, Gros, “Genesis 3–11,” 48Google Scholar; and Steinmetz, , “Vineyard,” 200–06.Google Scholar
41 Carr, , Fractures of Genesis, 239–40.Google Scholar
42 Hiebert, , Yahwist's Landscape, 78–80.Google Scholar
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