The Genesis Flood Narrative: Crucial Issues in the Current Debate1
نویسنده
چکیده
The purpose of this article is to examine major interrelated issues that are present in current discussions about the biblical Flood narrative of Gen 6-9. These include such questions as: the unity and literary genre of these chapters, the nature and extent of the biblical Flood, the relationship between history and theology in the Flood narrative, and the relationship of the biblical Flood narrative to other ANE flood stories. There are three major interpretations of Gen 9 : (1) nonhistorical (mythological) interpretations suggest that Gen 6-9 is a theologically motivated account redacted from two hfferent literary sources (J and P) and lmgely borrowed from other ANE mythological flood traditions; (2) limited or local flood theories narrow the scope of the Genesis Flood to a particular geographical location or locations (usually in Mesopotamia); and (3) tradtional views regard Gen 6-9 as a unified, historically rehble narrative describing a worldwide, global Flood, and written as a polernic against other ANE Fkod stories. The major issues with regard to the biblical Flood narrative may be summarized under one of three opposing alternatives: (1) nonhistorical (mythological) vs. hls torical interpretations of the Flood; (2) lunited/local vs. universal/global Flood interpretations; and (3) theories of dependence on ANE traditions vs. theories of theological polernic. In the pages that follow, each of these three opposing alternatives is briefly discussed. Special attention is given to the question of the extent of the Genesis Flood, building upon and advancing beyond my previous study of this issue.' The position set forth in this article is that only the tradtional understandmg of a literal, historical, global Flood does kill justice to the biblical data and that this interpretation is crucial for Flood theology in Genesis and for the theological implications drawn by later biblical writers.
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