Jewish and Christian Interpretations of Genesis

This research examines early Jewish and Christian interpretations of the first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The research will set forth the historical and cultural background in which Jewish and Christian scripture commentary arose and then discuss the basis for differences of interpretation of the Hebrew that began in the Christian era and that continued through the Middle Ages, with particular reference to Genesis 1.1-31.

Jewish exegesis involves a complex interpenetration of scriptural texts and commentaries that have different emphases, and it involves a specialized vocabulary. The big picture of Jewish exegesis is that over a period of about 1,000 years rabbinical figures known as tannaim compiled texts and commentaries that were to be collectively identified as the Midrash. This codification of text and interpretation by the rabbis can be compared with Christian exegesis of the apostolic and patristic periods, in part because the respective exegeses were being reduced to written form at roughly the same period of time, though the rabbinical project seems to have begun at about 200 BCE. The Midrash, which "denotes the exegetical method by which the oral tradition interprets and elaborates scriptural text," comprises the Halakha, which deals with religious law, ritual, and doctrine as relevant to behavior, and the Haggada, which deals with religious narratives, morality, theology, and relevant commentary. What is called the Mishna, translated lite

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othing came to be (John I.1-3). Et cetera. Augustine, who does not cite John directly at this point, nevertheless immediately proceeds to the confirmational authority of the synoptic gospels, citing the moment of Jesus's baptism when God's "voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son." Campbell makes the point that the myth of Elohim (God, in the "priestly" version of Genesis) was never intended to have been though to have created "ex nihilo, 'out of nothing,'" but rather was always intended to have described "creation from the power of the word, which in primitive thought is far from 'nothing,' but on the contrary is the essence of its thing." But in its emphasis on the power of the Christian message (word) to elicit faith in a new spiritual idea and on the figure of Jesus as the embodiment of the message, Christianity makes a special claim to being able to explain the origins of the cosmos and man, hence to having special, universal significance for all mankind. Augustine tightens that argument: "This is your Word which is also the Beginning because also It speaketh unto us. He says this in the Gospel, speaking through the flesh." That also makes the Word (the Son) coeval with the creation (the Word was with G

Category: Philosophy - J