Learning Objectives
- Explain why scholars believe the Pentateuch has at least four sources
- The Pent. is believed to have four sources because of textual and thematic variations. Certain passages have different ways of referring to God. Content and focus is different.
- Learn the main features of the four sources, J, E, D, and P
- J and E are anthropomorphic re: God and they have God acting via nature
- J - Jahweh [German version] (or Yahweh) Hebrew word for the Name of God - translated the LORD - the main account - God speaks to humans face-to-face
- E - Elohim as Hebrew word for God [plural] - translated God - only fragments remain - teaches faith of Israel thru its history. - angels and appearances are God's agents
YHWH Elohim = the LORD God
- D - Deuteronomic or D document - concerns laws as discovered by priests in the temple under King Josiah - teaches theology of history
- P - division of the E-document; Priestly - concerns forms of worship, priestly duties + genealogies
Ezra is a P document - has etiological narratives + highly developed theology; describes God's actions via miracles
- Discover the chief developers of the documentary hypothesis - Father Simon, German scholarship - Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis
- State the difference between myth, legend, saga, fairy tales, and history
- Look for other literary typologies in the Old Testament - such as dramatic irony,
Assignments to Deepen Someone's Understanding
- Develop your own definitions of symbol, myth, saga, analogy, anthropomorphism, story, legend, history, and hermeneutics. Write down some examples of each.
- hermeneutics - the science of interpretation of text in present-day context - what the sermon consists of mainly
- exegesis - the science of explaining the content of text
- story - factual or fictional account
- symbol - something that represents another thing, often at different levels of analysis. The lamb symbolizes Jesus, because Jesus was like the sacrificial lamb at passover given as the sin offering; motherhood is a symbol
- analogy - similarity between items by attribute or feature. 1:2::2:4 same relations, may be exact or approximate. Father:God
- myth - a grand narrative with historical and fictional elements that serves to explain cosmology, supernatural events, etc. Often uses symbols and complex meanings. Greek mythology helped to explain many mysteries to the ancients, the myth of Sisyphus. Center around the acts of Gods or God. Unnecessary to determine locus. Expresses truths. The myth of creation, sin, and judgment
- saga - an epic or multipart grand narrative of legendary figure(s). Sagas of Abraham, Joseph, Jacob
- legend - a story generally centering on a hero figure, may be partially factual, but embodies a truth. cannot be verified, must be accepted per se. important in the collective consciousness. stories of the patriarchs.
- fairy tale - a ficticious story that may be instructive, may contain a moral, may be considered part of the culture and heritage, but not used to explain cosmic events - stories for children. hansel and gretel
- asiety - the doctrine of God’s self-existence. God alone holds he power of being, and this power of being is His pure actuality. God answers Moses by saying “I am that I am.” This is asiety. God is. He cannot be anything other than being. He has always been and never was not. He is eternal.
- anthropomorphism - placing human characteristics on superhuman concepts. God walked in the Garden of Eden. Moses saw God's backside.
- via negativa - defining something by saying it is its inverse, God is incomprehensible, infinite.
- As you begin this course, you are asked to relate your spiritual autobiography. What would you say differently if you relate your life’s story as history, as a legend, or as a myth? In the news look for accounts that illustrate the difference between Historie and Geschichte today.
- Historie - Factual events in the past
- Geschichte - Interpreted, meaningful events in the past
- Each source has its own peculiarities which make it possible to identify the author. Look at something you have written or at an essay or story and identify characteristics which identify the author.
In your notebook write down definitions for Elohim, Jahweh, Yahweh, anthropomorphism, saga, legend, history, myth, and hermeneutics.
- Now write in two columns, one titled Historie and one titled Geschichte
- Under the first, write down factual events that mark the record of your life such as date and place of birth.
- In the Geschichte column, write down some significant events such as your first airplane ride, your first date, the death of someone important to you, or your remembrance of an earthshaking event. Notice any difference in the way the events are described. Does this give you a feel for the difference among ways of recording the past?
Preparing for Your Seminar
One way to explain the purpose of the program is to say that we study the story of the people of God so that we may more nearly be persons of God. Implied in this approach is the conviction that knowledge of the Christian heritage must be connected with personal knowledge and your experience of the world around you (your culture). What great themes emerge for you that shape your faith as a Christian and life or suggest an opportunity to rethink it? List some of these in your notebook.
Notes on Genesis
Common themes:
- the power of dreams
- kinship
- hospitality and gift-giving/offering
- deception (Tamar, Jacob, Sarah)
- manipulation
- favoritism and family rivalry
- physical beauty (Joseph, Moses+Tall, David)
- naming people, places, and things (changing proper names symbolic of elevation in status)
- promotion of the underdog, or second-born, or persecuted
- jesting/laughter vs seriousness;
- communal eating
- water gathering/drinking
- drinking alcohol
- guarantees of action (Tamar and cord, ring, etc.)
- instructing others what to say
- Abraham bargaining with God for the fate of Sodom
Idol worship still mentioned in Gen. Rachel hid the idols from Laban
Dramatic irony - men speaking different languages, but Joseph knows both languages
- Wierd stuff
- Nephilim in Gen. 6
- Jacob's Ladder - Jacob's wrestling with a man and later called Israel Noah's sons
- Shem and Japhem took the garment and covered their father's nakedness, walking backwards
- Lot's daughters conspired to have incest with father.
- Gen. 3:15 - strike yr head, strike his heel, enmity between man and woman.
- Twins emerging at different times from womb, midwife attached scarlet ribbon to hand, then other came out with ribbon. Newborns always struggling
- Life spans drop dramatically
- in second post-diluvian saga, ave. age is up to 135 years, because the LORD said he would limit lifespan to 120 years
- in first ante-diluvian saga # 1 average age is 800-976 years
- Euphemisms
- placing hand under the thigh (holding testicles) as an oath - to Abraham from Jacob/Israel Gen. 9:23
- in the way of women - menstrual cycle
- he went into her - he was with her he came into you
- The smitten
- God killed Er and Onan 3:18
- Sodom and Goronitha are first antediluvian cities completely destroyed by God because less than ten righteous people were in the city.
- Jacob's sons destroyed Hamor, rapist son Shechem, and the whole village because of the crime against Jacob's daughter Dinah.
- The blessed
- King Melchizedek of Salem - priest of the G-d most high "Do not quarrel along the way" parallel passages and verses - when reporting the message, often cited intact.
