About the Book
This is a new commentary volume looking at the theological and literary motivations of "Genesis" 1-11. Joseph Blenkinsopp provides a new commentary on "Genesis" 1-11, the so-called 'Primeval History' in which the account of creation is given. Blenkinsopp works with the conviction that, from a biblical point of view, creation cannot be restricted to a single event, nor to two versions of an event (as depicted in "Genesis" 1-3) but, rather, must take in the whole period of creation arranged in the sequence: creation - uncreation - recreation (as can be derived from "Genesis" 1-11). Through the course of the commentary, presented in continuous discussion rather than in a rigid verse-by-verse form, Blenkinsopp takes into account pre-modern interpretations of the texts, especially in the Jewish interpretative tradition, as well as modern, historical-critical interpretations. Blenkinsopp works from the perspective of acknowledging the text's literary integrity as an 'authored' work, rather than focusing simply on the its background in various sources (whilst of course paying due attention to those sources).
This enables Blenkinsopp's engaging discussion to focus upon the literary and theological artistry of the material at hand.
Table of Contents:
Chapter One: Humanity: The First Phase (Genesis 1-11); Chapter Two: In the beginning (Genesis 1:1-2:4a); Chapter Three: The Story of the Man, the Woman, and the Snake (Genesis 2:4b-3:24); Chapter Four: Cain and Abel: A Murder Mystery (Genesis 4:1-26); Chapter Five: Enoch and his times (Genesis 5:1-6:8); Chapter Six: The Cataclysm (Genesis 6:9-9:29); Chapter Seven: The New Humanity (Genesis 10:1-11:9); Chapter Eight: From Shem to Abraham, from Myth to History (Genesis 11:10-26); Epilogue: Towards a biblical theology of creation.
About the Author :
Joseph Blenkinsopp is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
Review :
For Blenkinsopp, the central question of Genesis 1-11 is how evil could have established itself so quickly and pervasively in a creation that God declared good, and his reading of the text addresses this issue in a way that will prove extremely helpful to those who are called upon to answer that question, whether for themselves or for other people. Highly recommended as an addition to the serious biblical student's library.
Blenkinsopp has poured a career's worth of scholarship into nearly 200 pages, writing with erudition and insight into the key difficulties- textual, hermeneutical, and theological-that accompany Gen 1-11... Blenkinsopp has adeptly raised the profile of creation in the biblical text and joins a vibrant and robust conversation currently going on within scholarship that shows creation is not a marginal idea but one of fundamental and generative importance.
Blenkinsopp brings his vast learning to the much studied chapters of Genesis 1-11. His particular interest and competence is to show the many ways in which these chapters are situated in a rich world of texts including antecedent Mesopotamian texts and belated Jewish and Christian texts. His focus, however, is on the question, "How did things go wrong?" He traces the way in which the narrative probes the deep reality of evil in God's good creation. Blenkinsopp sets a bountiful table from which his readers will be able to continue the hard, urgent work of theological interpretation. We still live in a world where "things have gone wrong." This book suggests the connections between "then" and "now."
Blenkinsopp writes with great erudition and also with great lucidity. He is distilling the insights gained from a lifetime in scholarship. This book will be useful as a supplementary textbook in Old Testament courses.
This is an unusual commentary, written by one of the leading biblical scholars of our time, but with the light touch and freshness of a novelist. In something of a tour de force he works meticulously through the text, dealing in exemplary fashion with all the traditional linguistic and historical critical questions raised by modern scholarship, but always keeping an eye on the story-line. Everywhere the meaning is illuminated, gaps in the narrative filled in and the reader's curiosity addressed, by the use of literary parallels, culled, with enviable ease, not only from other parts of the Bible and the ancient near east, but also from rabbinic, patristic and mediaeval literature, and the works of Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Shakespeare, Donne, Cowper, Nietzsche, Karl Barth and many others. An enthralling Epilogue: Towards a biblical theology of creation traces the main themes of Genesis 1-11 through Deutero-Isaiah, Paul and the Gospels, and concludes, not as the Christian Bible does with a new heaven and a new earth, but with the mysterious "dark side of creation" and in particular a reference by Jesus to Noah's flood "in terms which are prosaic, chilling and psychologically credible in the light of the many lesser catastrophes which have been the human lot since then" (Luke 17:26-7).
This stimulating commentary, based on a lifetime's study and reflection, makes a major contribution to unravelling the myriad problems of interpretation in Genesis 1-11. The author's great erudition ensures that scholars and students will learn much from it, whilst its clear presentation makes it accessible to the lay reader. This wide ranging volume is packed full of valuable theological insights and makes impressive use of other biblical, ancient Near Eastern, classical and later Jewish sources to illumine the text.
Students and pastors will find in this book the holistic approach they have been looking for.
In his new commentary on Genesis 1–11, Joseph Blenkinsopp elucidates the intricacies of interpretation of the seminal Genesis texts in a stimulating way. The commentary is well-written and addresses the major questions of biblical studies while also opening the texts to newcomers … Blenkinsopp’s commentary is highly recommended for its wide-ranging comparative thrust, for its fruitful and important focus on the current form of Genesis 1–11 and what it communicates, and for the wealth of intertextual connections that it presents and interprets in an instructive and stimulating way.
