Creation Story

Priestly Tradition

(P, sixth-fifth centuries BCE), during the Babylonian exile.

Kosmos

Greek word which means “a beautifully ordered and harmonious system.”

CHAOS TO KOSMOS

What was once chaotic and formless is now a beautifully ordered world.

ANTHROPOS

: Ending the creation story with the creation of human beings is very anthropocentric - a belief that the created order was created for the human.

THEOS

: God is the center of creation, not human beings. This is a movement from anthropos to theos.

first creation story

is an intricate movement from chaos, to kosmos, to anthropos, and finally, to theos.

Second Creation Story

From the Yahwist Tradition, produced during the time of the Davidic monarchy.

etiology

– a story rich in symbolism that attempts to locate and give expression to the causes of the present condition of the people.

adamah

the word ADAM in Hebrew

ish

male

ishah

female

ezer

Hebrew for helper

ezer

was created to accompany the man. Being a helper does NOT mean being man’s subordinate, but rather being his partner and companion.

Great Hamartiology

is utilized in order to understand the reality of evil, which we name sin, by pointing out how, by nature, humanity is created good, but erred in a way that was both personal and social, and thus created a situation of evil called original sin.

Repetition

is key in understanding Jewish literature and eat has been repeated multiple times in this story.

Humanity

is meant for that which is beyond - the beyond is the relationship and union with God.

Tree of life
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

There are two special trees in the garden.

Tree of life

is well known under different forms in the Bible and outside of the Bible.

Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

has NO parallel and Genesis 2-3 is the only text where it appears.

sin of pride

is at work - the human being thinking of himself or herself as not needing the pedagogical experience of life, and would rather take this knowledge by force.

Serpent

is an image of the unpredictable world of instinct and of the dark side of the human personality.

Cane and Abel
Noah and the flood
Tower of Babel

Key stories of hamartiology

Mary

She is the new Eve, the true "mother of all the living", namely, those who, because of their faith in Christ, receive eternal life

Mary

is the Mother of the Church, as Pope Paul VI and the Second Vatican Council solemnly proclaimed.

Snake

Symbol of fertility and fecundity, especially because the snake appears with the rainy season, when the cycle of vegetation begins again.

Desire

is ambivalent and neutral, it is neither good or evil.