Transcript Philosophy 224

PHILOSOPHY 224
HUMAN NATURE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
RELIGIOUS THEORIES OF HUMAN
NATURE
• We are going to focus on the philosophical
rather than religious significance of the sacred
texts of the various world religions we are going
to consider.
• This will be an easier distinction to make for most
of us for Hinduism or Islam than for either
Judaism or Christianity in that most of us have
little pre-reflective understanding of these
traditions and we can thus approach them
much more openly and straightforwardly.
INTERPRETIVE PRINCIPLES
• To the extent possible, this approach will require us to put aside
questions concerning the ultimate implications of these belief
systems in order to concentrate on what they have to tell us
about the sort of creatures that we are.
• We must be careful however to not denature these systems of
belief.
• We have little hope of understanding what they have to tell us about
anything unless we keep in mind their context.
• One thing we have to acknowledge is that these belief systems,
are not monolithic institutions. For example, the term "Hinduism" is
really just a way to designate the religious practices emanating
from a specific oral and written tradition. These practices have
the same diversity that is seen amongst Christian sects.
• Another important point is that all of these belief systems are
textual religions. That is, the substance, if not the practice, of the
religion is grounded in the interpretation of a collection of sacred
texts.
THE TORAH
• Traditionally, Jews, Christians and Muslims have believed
that the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew and
Christian Bibles) was dictated by God to Moses on Mt.
Sinai.
• Most biblical scholars today accept some version of the
documentary hypothesis which insists that these early
books (including Genesis) are composites of texts written
over many hundreds of years by authors influenced by
many older and culturally diverse written and oral
narratives.
• These texts reflect the diverse political and social
contexts in which they were written, contexts which
modern historical, archeological and interpretive
methods have made clear.
GENESIS 1-3
• According to the documentary hypothesis, the creation
story in Genesis 1 was authored by the so-called Priestly
Source, "P," written shortly after the Babylonian captivity
and influenced by the Babylonian creation story Enuma
Elish. The second creation story in Genesis 2 comes from
"J," the so-called Yahwist source, who wrote much
earlier, sometime in in the tenth or ninth century B.C.E.
Yet another author, from the northern kingdom, the "E"
source, becomes apparent later in Genesis (in one of
the two versions of Noah's ark story, for example).
• According to the documentary hypothesis, the "J" and
"E" texts were combined into a single document, "J/E," in
the late eight century B.C.E., to which the "P" text was
added centuries later, along with other material by a
final editor, "R," in the fifth century B.C.E.
TWO CREATION STORIES
• Let’s consider the two creation
stories presented to us in Genesis,
Chapters 1 and 2.
• What features do they share?
• Where are they different?
• What conclusions should we draw
about the metaphysical viewpoint
of the author(s) of these stories?
THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN
• A key feature of the first creation story is the creation of
human beings, which, unlike other creatures, are
distinctive by being made in the “likeness” of God.
• Jewish (and Christian) interpretation of this claim insists
that “likeness” in this instance does not mean physical,
material resemblance, but rather similarity in nature.
• The Hebrew work translated as likeness is “zelem,” which refers
to the nature or essence of a thing; “to’ar” would be the term
used if the sense was of resemblance of form.
• So what is the nature that we share with God. For
Judaism and Christianity, that nature is essentially
rational: the ability to discern and understand.
• We see this in Psalm 8 (3-4), and 90 (8-9, 12).
THE PLACE OF THE HUMAN
• We can also recognize this “likeness” in the account of
what humans are ordained to that is offered in both
creation stories: dominion over the rest of creation.
• It’s important to note that this idea is expressed
differently in each story.
• In the older, second story it take the form of naming, which in
primitive cultures has a magical significance. The ability to
name something gives you power over it.
• In the first, more recent story, it is just simply dominion.
• On whatever account, humans are placed at the top of
creation, distinctive in their rational capacities and in
authority over the rest.
THE CRISIS
• All that might lead us to believe that humans are in
pretty good shape, but we are quickly disabused of
that notion in Genesis, Chapter 3.
• What might explain this shift?
• What is its theological/philosophical justification?
• How is the shift accomplished?
• The completion of human knowledge in the knowledge of
good and evil.
• This completion is realized in the awareness of shame (body
as evil?), introduction of physical evil, suffering and death,
banishment from paradise.
DIAGNOSIS AND PRESCRIPTION: THE
PSALMS
• What do the two Psalms suggests is the source of
our problematic experience?
• One suggestion: the gap between us and the divine (8, 34), though the psalm goes on to celebrate the mastery
apparently granted to us over the world.
• Could this be another sort of problem? Power corrupts?
• Is it the divine itself (90, 3-12)?
• What, is it suggested, should we do about it?
• Consider the last few verses of Psalm 90.