Creation And Chaos in the Primeval Era And the Eschaton

by Gunkel, Hermann

• ISBN13: 9780802828040
• ISBN10: 0802828043
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-15
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

This significant volume is the first complete English translation of Hermann Gunkel's groundbreaking Schopfung und Chaos, originally published in German in 1895 - a classic work that has had a profound influence on modern biblical scholarship. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932) taught at several German universities

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Peter Machinist	xv
Translator's Preface	xxi
Transliteration	xxxvii
Introduction	xxxix
GENESIS 1: CREATION IN THE PRIMORDIAL AGE
1. Literature (Concerning the Babylonian Origin of Genesis 1)	3	(2)
2. Genesis 1 Is Not a Free Construction of the Author	5	(8)
The ancient features transmitted in Genesis	1	(5)
chaos,	6	(1)
the divine spirit,	7	(1)
darkness,	7	(1)
origin of plants,	7	(1)
stars,	8	(1)
the creation of humanity,	8	(2)
"good,"	10	(1)
the commandment concerning food,	10	(1)
the Sabbath,	10	(1)
show that Genesis 1 originates from ancient traditions. Some features (chaos, stars) point to the Babylonian origin of the tradition,	11	(2)
3. The Babylonian Cosmogony	13	(8)
Greek descriptions by Damascius,	13	(1)
and Berossus,	14	(1)
The cuneiform account, paraphrased and elucidated in its important features,	15	(2)
the ambiguity of the myth in its Babylonian form,	17	(2)
variants,	19	(2)
4. Allusions to the Myth of the Struggle of Marduk against Ti'amat in the Old Testament, apart from Genesis 1	21	(57)
I. The dragon traditions	21	(40)
Rahab,	21	(1)
Isa 51:6f.	21	(2)
Ps 89:10-14	23	(1)
Job 26:12f.	24	(1)
Job 9:13	25	(1)
Ps 87:4	26	(1)
Isa 30:7	26	(1)
Ps 40:5	26	(1)
Leviathan,	27	(1)
Ps 74:12-19	27	(3)
Isa 27:1	30	(2)
Job 40:25-41:26	32	(4)
Ps 104:25f.	36	(1)
Job 3:8	37	(2)
Behemoth,	39	(1)
Job 40:19-24	39	(1)
1 Enoch 60:7-9	40	(1)
4 Ezra 6:49-52	40	(2)
Isa 30:6	42	(1)
Ps 68:31	42	(1)
The Dragon in the Sea,	43	(1)
Job 7:12 (44); Ps 44:20	44	(1)
Ezek 29:3-6a; 32:2-7	45	(4)
Jer 51:34, 36, 42	49	(1)
Pss. Sol. 2:28b-34	50	(2)
The Serpent	52	(1)
Amos 9:2f.	52	(1)
(The examination continues on zooff.)
Compilation of the mythological materials discovered,	53	(4)
variants,	57	(2)
application,	59	(2)
II. The traditions of a primeval sea	61	(14)
The conquest of the sea in primeval times,	61	(1)
Ps 104:5-9; Job 38:8-11; Prov 8:22-31 Jer 5:22b; 31:5; Pss 33:6; 65:7f.; Sir 43:(25)23; Prayer of Manasseh 2-4	61	(4)
Isa 50:2b, 3	65	(1)
Applied to the end time or in reminiscences,	66	(1)
Psalm 46	67	(1)
Isa 17:12-14	67	(1)
Hab 3:8; Nah 1:4; Ps 18:16-18	68	(3)
Ps 93:3f.	71	(1)
Ps 77:17	72	(1)
Ps 106:9	72	(1)
Isa 59:15-20	73	(1)
Compilation	74	(1)
III. Comparison of the Old Testament dragon- and primeval sea-traditions with the Babylonian Ti'amat traditions	75	(3)
5. The Babylonian Origin of the Creation Account of Genesis 1, Its Character and the Time of Its Introduction into Israel	78	(37)
I. Babylonian origin of Genesis 1	78	(2)
II. Character of the recension of Genesis 1	80	(2)
III. Time and manner of the adoption of the myth	82	(33)
The material which was adopted during and after the exile,	84	(8)
[into Zechariah	84	(5)
into Ezekiel	89	(1)
Lilith, Shedim	89	(1)
Hélal ben Shahar etc.],	89	(3)
the character of Genesis 1 itself,	92	(1)
and the allusions in DeuteroIsaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah,	92	(2)
This all teaches that the myth was not adopted during the exile,	94	(1)
The assignation to prophetic times is just as impossible for the creation account as for the sagas of Paradise, Noah, Nimrod, and the Tower of Babel,	95	(4)
The creation myth entered into Canaan in ancient times,	99	(1)
Babylonian influence at that time,	100	(1)
antiquity of creation faith in Israel,	100	(2)
positive evidence,	102	(8)
Conclusion: Account of the migration of the Babylonian creation myth into Israel,	110	(5)
REVELATION 12: CREATION IN THE END TIME
1. Revelation 12 Is Not of Christian Origin.	115	(15)
The Christ of the chapter does not refer to Jesus,	115	(1)
The difficulty of this exegesis	116	(1)
the usual particulars	117	(2)
The woman cannot be understood in a Christian manner,	119	(1)
The person of the woman	119	(1)
her flight	119	(1)
The aim of the chapter cannot be understood by recourse to Christian composition,	120	(1)
Has a description of something bygone made its way into an apocalyptic setting?	121	(2)
application of the results to Revelation 12	123	(1)
The Christian pieces of the chapter,	124	(2)
Arguments from the arrangement of Revelation,	126	(1)
Rebuttal of the objections against a Jewish interpretation of the chapter,	127	(1)
The parallel tradition of y. Ber. 5, 1,	128	(1)
Hebraic composition of the chapter,	129	(1)
Results,	129	(1)
2. The Interpretation of Revelation 12 according to "Contemporaneous Exegesis"	130	(21)
Contemporaneous exegesis of Revelation,	130	(1)
methodology	130	(3)
contemporary exegesis comprises, in reality, two different exegetical methods	133	(1)
traditiohistorical exegesis	134	(2)
Some contemporary exegeses,	136	(1)
classification	136	(1)
the five classes:
(1) the two witnesses, the hellhole, 'Απomicronλλupsilonων (apollyon), the white stone, the tail of the serpent	136	(2)
(2) the cavalry, the grasshoppers, the frogs	138	(2)
(3) the martyrs, the refuge, the great multitude	140	(4)
the ανomicronμomiceonç (anomos) and the kappaατepsilonχων (katechon)	142	(2)
(4) the four riders, the seventh vision	144	(3)
(5) the sixth seal, etc.	147	(1)
appendix: concerning chapters 13 and 17	147	(4)
3. Revelation Is Not of Jewish Origin.	151	(30)
Negative evidence: the exegesis of the chapter from the Jewish standpoint is prudent	151	(12)
The method of this exegesis, the "linkage" method	151	(3)
Examples of this exegesis of chapter 12 - the travail, the casting down of the stars, the birth and flight of the Christ, the battle with the dragon, the flight of the woman	154	(5)
The organizing principles	159	(2)
The "fantastic" narratives of the apocalyptists	161	(2)
Results	163	(1)
Positive evidence: the chapter is the codification of a tradition	163	(11)
Evidence from the nature of the chapter	163	(1)
method of perceiving a tradition	163	(2)
instances where the continuity of chapter 12 is broken	165	(2)
insubstantial and substantial themes in juxtaposition	167	(2)
Armageddon	169	(2)
three and a half	171	(3)
Positive evidence, continuation: this tradition is of extra-Judaic descent	174	(7)
The original form of this tradition is of a mythological nature	174	(3)
The Jewish pieces of the chapter are interpretive appendages	177	(4)
4. Babylonian Material in Later Judaism	181	(58)
Revelation 12 is not of Greek descent	181	(2)
The materials in Revelation 12 which are related to materials elsewhere in Revelation, as well as in Enoch, Daniel, and Zechariah, stem from extra-Judaic, oriental religion	183	(5)
Babylonian materials in Judaism	188	(26)
The seven spirits	188	(5)
the 24 presbyters	193	(4)
the 12 angels of the zodiac, the seven levels of hell	197	(1)
Esther = Ishtar	197	(4)
Leviathan and Behemoth	201	(2)
the dream of Mordecai in the Add Esth 1:4-10	203	(1)
the dragon of Babylon	204	(1)
Daniel 7	205	(1)
its interpretation	205	(1)
its objective	206	(2)
the vision is an allegorizing tradition	208	(1)
this tradition is the chaos myth	208	(2)
reconstruction of the tradition	210	(3)
the relationship of the author to the tradition	213	(1)
Revelation 13 and 17	214	(25)
Relationship of the chapters to each other and to chapter 12	214	(1)
The chapters illustrate different recensions of the same tradition	214	(1)
Relationship of chapter 13 to chapter 12	215	(2)
Reconstruction of This Tradition	217	(22)
This tradition has not been radically affected by contemporary history	217	(2)
Separation of the tradition and contemporary materials in chapter 17	219	(2)
Separation of the tradition and contemporary materials in chapter 13	221	(5)
The lineage of the tradition	226	(1)
Not with Christianity or Judaism	226	(1)
Kinship with Daniel 7	227	(1)
And with Babylonian/Old Testament chaos tradition	228	(1)
indicating Babylonian origin
The otherwise undocumented themes of the tradition	230	(1)
The individuality of the chapters	231	(1)
The transference of the primal myth to the eschaton	231	(1)
The Jewish interpretation of chaos as Rome	234	(1)
The mystery of the beast of chapter 17 and of the number 666	236	(3)
5. The Tradition of Revelation 12 Is of Babylonian Origin.	239	(14)
Evidence from the relationship with Revelation 13 and 17	239	(1)
with Daniel 7	239	(1)
and with the Babylonian/Old Testament chaos tradition	240	(1)
The otherwise undocumented themes	241	(2)
The material of Revelation 12 as a Babylonian myth	243	(3)
Interpretation of the myth by Judaism	246	(4)
and by Christianity	250	(1)
Conclusion: Review	250
APPENDICES
I. The Babylonian Creation Epic	253	(17)
II. The Second Babylonian Recension of the Ti'amat-Marduk Battle	270	(2)
III. The Second Babylonian Recension of the Creation	272	(2)
IV. The Adapa Myth	274	(4)
V. The Flood	278	(6)
Notes	284	(100)
Bibliography	384	(21)
Index of Persons Cited	405	(7)
General/Topical Index	412	(17)
Index of Ancient Documents Cited	429