The Eden Narrative

The Eden Narrative PDF Author: Tryggve N. D. Mettinger
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 1575061414
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
In a book marked by unusually readable yet academic style, Mettinger transforms our knowledge of the story of Eden in Genesis. He shows us a story focused on a divine test of human obedience, with human disobedience and its consequences as its main theme. Both of the special trees in Eden had a function: the tree of knowledge as the test case, and the tree of life as the potential reward for obedience. Mettinger adopts a two-tiered approach. In a synchronic move, he understakes a literary analysis that yields striking observations on narratology, theme, and genre in the text studied. He defines the genre as myth and subjects the narrative to a functional analysis. He then applies a diachronic approach and presents a tradition-historical reconstruction of an Adamic myth in Ezekiel 28. The presence of both wisdom and immortality in this myth leads to a discussion of these divine prerogatives in Mesopotamian literature (remember Adapa and Gilgamesh). The two prerogatives demarcated an ontological boundary between the divine and human spheres. Nevertheless, the Eden Narrative does not evaluate the human desire to obtain knowledge or wisdom negatively. A piece of fresh, original scholarship in accessible form, this book is ideal for courses on creation, primeval history, the Bible and literature, and the Bible and the ancient Near East.

The Eden Narrative

The Eden Narrative PDF Author: Tryggve N. D. Mettinger
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 1575061414
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185

Get Book Here

Book Description
In a book marked by unusually readable yet academic style, Mettinger transforms our knowledge of the story of Eden in Genesis. He shows us a story focused on a divine test of human obedience, with human disobedience and its consequences as its main theme. Both of the special trees in Eden had a function: the tree of knowledge as the test case, and the tree of life as the potential reward for obedience. Mettinger adopts a two-tiered approach. In a synchronic move, he understakes a literary analysis that yields striking observations on narratology, theme, and genre in the text studied. He defines the genre as myth and subjects the narrative to a functional analysis. He then applies a diachronic approach and presents a tradition-historical reconstruction of an Adamic myth in Ezekiel 28. The presence of both wisdom and immortality in this myth leads to a discussion of these divine prerogatives in Mesopotamian literature (remember Adapa and Gilgamesh). The two prerogatives demarcated an ontological boundary between the divine and human spheres. Nevertheless, the Eden Narrative does not evaluate the human desire to obtain knowledge or wisdom negatively. A piece of fresh, original scholarship in accessible form, this book is ideal for courses on creation, primeval history, the Bible and literature, and the Bible and the ancient Near East.

The Ethnobotany of Eden

The Ethnobotany of Eden PDF Author: Robert A. Voeks
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022654785X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
In the mysterious and pristine forests of the tropics, a wealth of ethnobotanical panaceas and shamanic knowledge promises cures for everything from cancer and AIDS to the common cold. To access such miracles, we need only to discover and protect these medicinal treasures before they succumb to the corrosive forces of the modern world. A compelling biocultural story, certainly, and a popular perspective on the lands and peoples of equatorial latitudes—but true? Only in part. In The Ethnobotany of Eden, geographer Robert A. Voeks unravels the long lianas of history and occasional strands of truth that gave rise to this irresistible jungle medicine narrative. By exploring the interconnected worlds of anthropology, botany, and geography, Voeks shows that well-intentioned scientists and environmentalists originally crafted the jungle narrative with the primary goal of saving the world’s tropical rainforests from destruction. It was a strategy deployed to address a pressing environmental problem, one that appeared at a propitious point in history just as the Western world was taking a more globalized view of environmental issues. And yet, although supported by science and its practitioners, the story was also underpinned by a persuasive mix of myth, sentimentality, and nostalgia for a long-lost tropical Eden. Resurrecting the fascinating history of plant prospecting in the tropics, from the colonial era to the present day, The Ethnobotany of Eden rewrites with modern science the degradation narrative we’ve built up around tropical forests, revealing the entangled origins of our fables of forest cures.

What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden?

What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? PDF Author: Ziony Zevit
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300195338
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
A provocative new interpretation of the Adam and Eve story from an expert in Biblical literature. The Garden of Eden story, one of the most famous narratives in Western history, is typically read as an ancient account of original sin and humanity’s fall from divine grace. In this highly innovative study, Ziony Zevit argues that this is not how ancient Israelites understood the early biblical text. Drawing on such diverse disciplines as biblical studies, geography, archaeology, mythology, anthropology, biology, poetics, law, linguistics, and literary theory, he clarifies the worldview of the ancient Israelite readers during the First Temple period and elucidates what the story likely meant in its original context. Most provocatively, he contends that our ideas about original sin are based upon misconceptions originating in the Second Temple period under the influence of Hellenism. He shows how, for ancient Israelites, the story was really about how humans achieved ethical discernment. He argues further that Adam was not made from dust and that Eve was not made from Adam’s rib. His study unsettles much of what has been taken for granted about the story for more than two millennia—and has far-reaching implications for both literary and theological interpreters. “Classical Hebrew in the hands of Ziony Zevit is like a cello in the hands of a master cellist. He knows all the hidden subtleties of the instrument, and he makes you hear them in this rendition of the profoundly simple story of Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and their Creator in the Garden of Eden. Zevit brings a great deal of other biblical learning to bear in a surprisingly light-hearted book.”―Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography

The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis

The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis PDF Author:
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 9780802136107
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Hailed as "the most radical repackaging of the Bible since Gutenberg", these Pocket Canons give an up-close look at each book of the Bible.

The Eden Narrative

The Eden Narrative PDF Author: Howard N. Wallace
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004387145
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description


The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3

The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3 PDF Author: Bruce C E Fleming
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780972575928
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
God did not curse Eve or limit woman in any way. Sadly, modern translations of Genesis 3:16 make it look like God did both. God didn't curse Adam either, but God did speak to him in a way exactly parallel to the other rebel in the Garden of Eden, the serpent-tempter. And two curses were imposed by God because of them. People have made up many myths and stories about what supposedly happened in Eden. They make it seem like God cursed the woman and that she somehow deserved it. She didn't. They make it seem like God instituted the man's bad behavior toward his wife. God didn't. The Bible tells us what really happened. And this book is all about what God really said especially in Genesis 3:16. When these chapters in Genesis are rightly understood, and we gain a true view of what God really said to the woman in Genesis 3:16, many New Testament passages can be reinvestigated. They too can be cleared away of the bias we find popping up in translations of, and commentary on, several key passages in the New Testament that look back to Genesis 2 and 3. This book is based on the episodes of Season One of The Eden Podcast (TheEdenPodcast.com).

Thinking in Circles

Thinking in Circles PDF Author: Mary Douglas
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300134959
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Immanuel Kant's views on politics, peace, and history have lost none of their relevance since their publication more than two centuries ago. This volume contains a comprehensive collection of Kant's writings on international relations theory and political philosophy, superbly translated and accompanied by stimulating essays. Pauline Kleingeld provides a lucid introduction to the main themes of the volume, and three essays by distinguished contributors follow: Jeremy Waldron on Kant's theory of the state; Michael W. Doyle on the implications of Kant's political theory for his theory of international relations; and Allen W. Wood on Kant's philosophical approach to history and its current relevance.

Reinventing Eden

Reinventing Eden PDF Author: Carolyn Merchant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136161244
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This revised edition of Carolyn Merchant’s classic Reinventing Eden has been updated with a new foreword and afterword. Visionary quests to return to the Garden of Eden have shaped Western Culture. This book traces the idea of rebuilding the primeval garden from its origins to its latest incarnations and offers a bold new way to think about the earth.

The Epic of Eden

The Epic of Eden PDF Author: Sandra L. Richter
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830879110
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Does your knowledge of the Old Testament feel like a grab bag of people, books, events and ideas? Sandra Richter gives an overview of the Old Testament, organizing our disorderly knowledge of the Old Testament people, facts and stories into a memorable and manageable story of redemption that climaxes in the New Testament.

Stewards of Eden

Stewards of Eden PDF Author: Sandra L. Richter
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830849270
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Sandra L. Richter cares about the Bible and the environment. Using her expertise in ancient Israelite society as well as in biblical theology, she walks readers through biblical passages and shares case studies that connect the biblical mandate to current issues. She then calls Christians to apply that message to today's environmental concerns.