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Surely, when one takes the time to reflect upon it, reading and writing must be understood as something truly magical by those denied access to this form of knowing. To find meaning, to make connections and find knowledge, in something which another experiences very differently, could be seen in many ways. It could be seen as bluff, it could be seen as trickery, even conspiracy, but once it is accepted that meaning is there to be found and that there are means whereby that meaning can be found, it is inevitable that other questions will be asked. In modern times, these are the questions that the illiterate person is obliged to consider. They are the questions that, in a very different way, children must find themselves playing with. They are the question asked by 'foreigners', suddenly lost in a new language and a new cultural reference system and they were, David Abram suggests, the questions forced upon members of ancient cultures when they first came into contact with phonetic writing systems. In his discussion of the history of language in The Spell of the Sensuous, Abram tells us that "anthropological accounts from entirely different continents report that members of indigenous, oral tribes" who saw Europeans reading from books "came to speak of the written pages as 'talking leaves', for the black marks on the flat, leaflike pages seemed to talk directly to the one who knew their secret" (p. 132). 1
Aleph - Tav and Infinite Possibilities of Reality
Aleph - Tav and Infinite Possibilities of Reality, 2021
Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and a symbol of the Holy Palace. It extends into the letter Yodh which is number 10 of the Hebrew alphabet. These 10 are the "Dibburim"-(words or sayings) of Genesis in the "Let there be Light" monologue. They are also known as the 10 commandments and were finally termed "middot" or "attributes" by conservative schools and "sefiroth" by liberal neo-orthodoxy groups. They were conceptualized by Kabbalists as 10 components of the Creation that play a role in the creation of the spiritual heavens and earth. When they are activated, Ruach dwells in the Most Holy Place known as Makom. Tav, is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet it also symbolizes the entire material creation as a container and receptacle for the unlimited, unmeasurable, unseen Energy of Elohim. From Aleph, Ruach flows through the attributes and emanates the ALL. Nothing can contain the ALL except TAV without TAV nothing would exist in this material world we live in. TAV receives all the Aleph Energy that nothing material can contain. Tav receives Sheen and sends back data to Aleph, which initiates motion and animation in the spiritual invisible creation.
Creation and Christ. An Exploration of the Topic of Creation in the Epistle to the Hebrews
2018
This work is a revised version of my PhD thesis, completed at St. Patrick’s College, the Pontifical University, Maynooth between 2013 and 2018, under the supervision of Rev. Dr. Jeremy Corley. It was inspired by a course undertaken at the same university, taught by Rev. Anthony O’Leary CP, in which I examined the theme of creation in Heb 1 – 2 as part of the assessment process. As part of the course on Hebrews at Maynooth, we naturally covered the more commonly discussed theme in the Epistle, the high priesthood of Christ. However, as I began to look at Hebrews more closely, I saw that the term high priest is not so common in the first four chapters of Hebrews, occurring only four times with a further reference to sacrifice in 1:3. Rather than emphasising the sacrificial activity of Christ, the opening section is replete with a number of references to creation: 1:2 – 3,10 – 12, 2:5 – 9, 10; 3:1 – 6; 4:3 – 4 and 4:9 – 10. This prompted me to ask why creation was being referenced so m...
Genesis 1 and the Priestly Agenda
Journal for The Study of The Old Testament, 1999
The Priestly creation narrative of Gen. 1.1–2.4 is generally interpreted as a self-contained theological or historical exercise. Abstract exercises are alien, however, to the Priestly style. This article suggests the possibility that the author was a member of the Holiness School and that his purpose was to establish the philosophical foundation of the Holiness Code (H) by declaring that man is God's image, and therefore has the potential to become holy. The creation narrative sets the stage for the centerpiece of H, the dietary law of Leviticus 11. Usually attributed to P, this law shows itself to belong to H, and in fact to be one of the cornerstones of H's ideology. Intent on showing how world history was a preparation for the revelation of the laws of holiness at Sinai, the author of H emerges as one of the most important of the Hebrew Bible's author-redactors.
The Origins of the Torah, 2022
Around the 5 th and 4 th centuries BC, the Jewish nation underwent a process of restructuring. After the Babylonian exile imposed by Nebuchadnezzar II, the exiled Jews returned to Palestine, now under the political protection of the Persians. These gave support to the reorganization of the Israeli state and allowed the performance of governors, who later came to favor the emergence of a priestly monarchy. This restructuring with a view to the formation of a new state implied the recreation of the Israeli cultural identity, so that a survey of the oral and written tradition was processed. This process of cultural rediscovery to establish an identity included the joining of ancient Jewish literature with a new literature, the latter trying to fill in the gaps of the former and, at the same time, conceive a broad and universal vision. As this compilation came from the priestly class, the final text was accompanied by a religious and moral atmosphere. Thus, the Torah, which we call the Pentateuch, was born, the set of the first five books of the Bible. The text of the Torah, being the result of a fusion of old and new texts, reflects in its content several fragmentary traditions and arranged according to the objective of the priestly compiler. However, these traditions have many previous paradigms, adapted according to the editor's intention, taken from mythological texts from foreign peoples and from Palestine itself. To exemplify the process of formation of the Torah, we can analyze the book of Genesis, starting with chapter 1, which reports the creation of the world. The idea of a god who brings the world into being by his word was already known to the Egyptians, among whom it was said that the god Ptah created the world by means of his word. The primeval scene of a spirit over the deep waters of the abyss recalls the myth of the Babylonian god Marduk (the triumphant and strong spirit) who dominates the goddess Tiamat (the raging sea). The separation of light from darkness seems to be based on Persian culture, on Zoroastrian dualism. The division of the text of Genesis 1 into seven parts corresponding to seven days follows the structure of the Babylonian poem Enuma Elish (3 rd millennium BC), which was composed in seven cantos or tablets. In this poem man is created in the sixth canto, just as in Genesis man appears on the sixth day (Gen. 1:26-31). In chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis we have the story of Adam, the garden of Eden, Eve, the serpent, the two trees and the expulsion from Eden. In these accounts we see the fusion of various Mesopotamian and Canaanite traditions. The realistic background is the political legitimation of the pastoral monarchical government, 1 represented by the God Yahweh, over the agricultural people of the land of Canaan (the Canaanites; Gen. 2:15), represented by the serpent and by Adam and Eve. We also have the imposition of official religion on unofficial religion, respectively (compare the story of Cain, the farmer, who offers the produce of the earth to God in oblation, and Abel, the shepherd, who offers the firstfruits and the fat of his flock; the result of which was God's refusal of Cain's oblation, and preference for Abel's; v. Gen. 4). 2
In The Beginning… Why? (Exegetical Notes on Genesis 1)
2022
The first chapters of Genesis have been dated, debated, disputed, disparaged, dismissed, and defended. The first chapter of Genesis (including and up to Gen 2:3) has proven to be a minefield of hot topics with lines being drawn between Young Earth Creationists (YEC), Old Earth Creationists (OEC), Theistic Evolutionary Creationists (TEC, or just EC), and Intelligent Design advocates (ID). Debates rage, and sadly, critical exegesis gives way to eisegesis and sound hermeneutical principles are overlooked. Still, the debates go on as attempts are made to define and then defend issues of cosmogeny, cosmology, and chronology. We are obsessed with the notion that Genesis 1 must explain all of it-creation science, the length of the creation "days," immediate or mediate creation methods, creation anomalies and the chronological sequencing of creation events, and so forth.
Critical Issues in the Formation of the Hebrew Bible
Earliest Christianity within the Boundaries of Judaism Essays in Honor of Bruce Chilton Edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck Craig A. Evans Jacob Neusner LEIDEN | 2016, 2016
The books of our Old Testament became recognized as "canon" in the same way that the Old Testament itself was formed-gradually, as holy men of old spoke and wrote, being moved of the Holy Spirit. In various ways and at various times throughout the old covenant times God spoke to his people through the prophets, and as they delivered God's word to the people, whether in oral or written form, it was recognized as of divine origin and, hence, "canon" authority. Gradually these canonical books were collected and gathered together and became known among the Jews as The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, or, briefer, The Law and the Prophets, or in briefest shorthand, The Law. This that we now call The Old Testament was the "Bible" of Christ (cf. Luke 24:44). We have it on Christ's authority that these books of the Old Testament are to be considered canonical, fully authoritative. It is no surprise, therefore, to find that the Old Covenant Scriptures continued in use as the Bible of the early church (cf. Acts 13:15). It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the Bible of the early church consisted only of these books. Beginning immediately in the apostolic age these new spokesmen for our Lord began to enjoin on the church additional writings which were to be held-and which were held by the apostles themselves-in equal regard. Gradually and one by one writings came from the apostles' pens and were imposed on the church and received by the church as canon (e.g., 1Cor. 14:37; 1Thes. 2:13; 4:1-2; 2Thes. 2:15; 3:6, 14; 1Tim. 6:3; Rev. 1:11; 2:1, etc.). The apostles themselves as well as the churches to whom they wrote recognized their word as on par with that older revelation (1Tim. 5:18; 2Pet. 3:16), and as this new revelation came to them it was revered as from Christ. Nor was this apostolic authority self-made. Christ had commissioned them to this task exactly, and this was to be the role they would serve in the history of the church. The Lord Jesus Christ had come from heaven as God's climactic self-revelation (Heb.1:1-2), and he appointed these men as his personal legates, directing them to be his spokesmen. He had brought the revelation of God to them, and they, in turn, were to take this revelation to the world (John 17:6-8, 14, 18, 20). In order to equip them to fulfill this role successfully Christ sent them "another helper," his replacement, the Holy Spirit of God who would teach them "all things" and "bring to their remembrance" all that Jesus himself had taught them (John 14:24-26). The Spirit of Christ was promised to speak for Christ and guide the apostles into "all truth" and reveal to them "things to come" (John 16:12-13). They would be the final repositories of God's full and final revelation in Christ and thus became, in a sense, the "foundation" of the church (Eph.
Genesis 1.1 as the first act of creation
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2019
In contrast to the contemporary trend of reading Gen. 1.1 as either a heading to the chapter or a subordinate clause, this essay argues that the verse can be responsibly read as the first step in the process of creation. In particular, it is argued that attending to the two senses of ‘heaven’ in biblical Hebrew is a necessary prerequisite for reading Gen. 1.1. Moreover, the final form of Gen. 1 reveals the use of both bipartite and tripartite cosmological formulae. Taking these observations seriously lays the foundation for reading Gen. 1.1 as the first step in the process of creation. In turn, it is argued that this reading of the narrative is theologically suggestive.