Pentateuch - Essay Example

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The narrative has many surprises, authentic innovations and ironies. Take for example Turner’s comments about the first verse of Genesis. To quote the first verse, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”(Genesis 1:1, 2, NIV) Turner responds to this revelation thus: “The first verse of Genesis not only reveals a lot about God, but also attacks the common ancient view about religion. In doing this, it sets the trend of the creation account as a whole, which takes every opportunity available to confound the conventional wisdom of its time.”(p.19)
The thinking of the people impacted by the materialistic civilization, scientific advancement, industrial and internet revolution have put many of the original contents of the Genesis in dock. Voluminous literatures, a number of books have been published on Genesis, and many attempts have been made to probe its depths. The intellectuals, the mind-level scholars interact with biblical texts in novel ways, and this stand was unthinkable a generation ago. Many have the audacity to comment that Genesis reflects the viewpoints of the time to which it belonged. Turner is quick to counter such mind-level architects of the scriptures vehemently. He writes, “This is not the case. Genesis has always been out of step, not only with the prevailing views of its own time, but also with ours today. It was radical then. It is radical now.”(p.19)
To put God in the weighing scale of intellectualism and treat His revelations like the oscillating pendulum, is the worst mistake committed by the present day scholars who make attempts to interpret Genesis. But it is possible for a discerning reader or critic, ...Download file to see next pagesRead More