Genesis, Pt 1

Question 1

Give three criticisms of the documentary hypothesis.

Answer 1

• Other possible reasons for differences, repetitions, multiple names.
• Circular login in defining what expect to see and then seeing it
• No widespread agreement on where to split the sources or when to date them

Question 2

Who wrote the Pentateuch?

Answer 2

• Authorship not specified
• Possibly Moses, working with older material as well
• Collation of the sources (toledot) and Moses’ life and writings and others into the Pentateuch

Question 3

How are Genesis 1 and 2 different?

Answer 3

• From Elohim to Yahweh Elohim (more personal and relational)
• Whole word to one place
• All plants to just agriculture
• All animals to just humans
• From speaking into creation to hands on with materials
• From schematized semi-poetic to narrative

Question 4

What is the Enuma Elish?

Answer 4

The Enuma Elish is a Mesopotamian (specifically Babylonian) story of creation.

Question 5

What is the documentary hypothesis?

Answer 5

Asserts four sources from different time periods make up the Pentateuch

Question 6

What does the documentary hypothesis hold up as evidence for multiple authors?

Answer 6

• “Seams”
• Differences in how the text is written/arranged
• Differences in names
• Repetitions
• Later knowledge that seems out of place

Question 7

How are Genesis 1 and 2 related?

Answer 7

• Ch 2 explains day 6, continues the story – continuity

- Underscore importance of people and purpose

Question 8

Who came up with the documentary hypothesis?

Answer 8

Julius Wellhausen

Question 9

What genre is Genesis 1-11?

Answer 9

Story of origin (aka cosmology)

Question 10

Name the two genres of Genesis.

Answer 10

Stories of origins (aka cosmology) and narrative

Question 11

How is the Genesis creation account (not including creating humans) different from other ANE creation stories?

Answer 11

• God as single divine entity creating ex nihilo (not out of existing matter)
• God is pre-existing, not concerned with God’s origins
• Both functional and material creation, versus others more functional
• Not about fighting the chaos and subduing it

Question 12

Give the sections of Genesis.

Answer 12

1-11 - Primeval History

12-50 - The Patriarchs

Question 13

How does Genesis relate to the creation-evolution controversy?

Answer 13

• Must be looked at in proper cultural context and genre
• What questions did it answer for the ANE people?
• Need to look at its purpose
• Not a scientific treatise

Question 14

How and why are humans created in the Enuma Elish?

Answer 14

Humans are created from the blood of a slain god in order to serve as slaves and provide food for the gods.

Question 15

How is the Genesis account of humanity’s creation different from other ANE creation stories?

Answer 15

• Spoken/earth vs blood of a god (maybe with clay)
• God highly involved
• Dignity and stewardship for humanity, not slaves
• Climax of creation, not afterthought
• Creates two rather than en masse

Question 16

Why is repetition not good evidence for the documentary hypothesis?

Answer 16

Oral cultures use repetition in stories as a way of helping people remember the stories.

Question 17

What genre is Genesis 12-50?

Answer 17

Narrative

Question 18

How does the text tell us the creation of humanity is the climax of the creation stories?

Answer 18

• Humanity is very good
• Man in own image and given command to rule
• Second account with more specifics, hands on

Question 19

Give the four parts of the documentary hypothesis.

Answer 19

J - Yahwist
E - Elohist
D - Deuteronomist (pious fraud)
P - Priestly

Question 20

What is the Atrahasis epic?

Answer 20

It is a Mesopotamian story of creation and the flood.

Question 21

How and why are humans created in the Atrahasis epic?

Answer 21

Fourteen initial people are formed from mixing clay and the blood of a slain god so that they can take over the labor from the lesser gods.

Question 22

What historical happenings did the Documentary Hypothesis arise from?

Answer 22

• Enlightenment period

- Darwinian thought and desire to reject the church

Question 23

In the Atrahasis epic, what is saved and how?

Answer 23

Not just humanity but civilization is saved because multiple artisans are included in the ark.

Question 24

Give the basis plotline of the Enuma Elish.

Answer 24

The first husband and wife (Apsu and Tiamat) gave rise to all descendants. The younger ones became too noisy, so Apsu and his eldest decides to kill them, but Tiamat warns them and they kill Apsu. Then Tiamat decides to take revenge and generates an army of monsters, but Marduk leads the opposite and kills her, cutting her corpse in half to create the sky and earth.