The Creation of Man and Woman: Interpretations of the Biblical Narratives in Jewish and Christian Traditions (Themes in Biblical Narrative)

228 Pages·2000·10.87 MB·English

by  Gerard P. Luttikhuizen

THE CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN
THEMES IN
BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS
Editorial Board
PHILIP S. ALEXANDER - GERARD P. LUTTIKHUIZEN
Assistant Editor
FREEK VAN DER STEEN
Advisory Board
WOLFGANG A. BIENERT -JAMES L. KUGEL
FLORENTINO GARCIA MARTINEZ -JAMES R. MUELLER - ED NOORT
VOLUME III
THE CREATION OF MAN
AND WOMAN
Interpretations of the Biblical Narratives
in Jewish and Christian traditions
EDITED BY
GERARD P. LUTTIKHUIZEN
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON • KOLN
2000
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The creation of man and woman : Interpretations of the biblical narratives in
Jewish and Christian traditions. / edited by Gerard P. Luttikhuizen.
p. cm. — (Themes in biblical narrative, ISSN 1388-3909 ; v. 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004116710 (alk. paper)
1. Adam (Biblical figure) 2. Eve (Biblical figure) 3. Creation—History
of doctrines. 4. Bible. O.T. Genesis I-II—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—
-History. I. Luttikhuizen, Gerard P. II. Series.
BS580.A4C74 2000
291.2'2—dc21 00-025992
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
The creation of man and woman interpretations of the biblical narratives
in Jewish and Christian traditions / ed. by Gerard P.
Luttikhuizen. - Leiden ; Boston ; Koln : Brill, 2000
(Themes in Biblical narrative ; Vol. 3)
ISBN 90-04-11671-0
Cover design: TopicA (Antoinette Hanekuyk)
Petrus Plancius, Tabula Geographica, In Qua Paradisus ..., Amsterdam ca. 1590
ISSN 1388-3909
ISBN 90 04 11671 0
© Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Abbreviations ix
List of Contributors xi
The Creation of Man and Woman in Biblical and
Ancient Near Eastern Traditions 1
E. NOORT
Pandora or the Creation of a Greek Eve 19
J.N. BREMMER
The Creation of Man and Woman in Early Jewish
Literature 34
J.T.A.G.M. VAN RUITEN
Endowed With Reason or Glued to the Senses:
Philo's Thoughts on Adam and Eve 63
A. VAN DEN HOEK
Man, Woman, and the Angels in 1 Cor 11:2-16 76
LJ. LIETAERT PEERBOLTE
Keeping Marriage Out of Paradise: The Creation of
Man and Woman in Patristic Literature 93
H.S. BENJAMINS
The Creation of the Human in Rabbinic Interpretation 107
G.M.G. TEUGELS
Eve and the Matriarchs: Aspects of Woman Typology
in Genesis 128
WJ. VAN BEKKUM
The Creation of Man and \Voman in The Secret
Book of John 140
G.P. LUTTIKHUIZEN
"Two of Far Nobler Shape": Milton's Re-creation of
Eve and Adam 156
H. WILCOX
vi CONTENTS
The Creation of Eve and the Ambivalence Between
the Sexes 172
P.E. JONGSMA-TlELEMAN
The Performance of Creation, Creation in Performance 187
S. LEVY
References to Ancient Texts 207
PREFACE
In June, 1999, the yearly conference of the research group "Jewish
and Christian Traditions" of the Faculty of Theology and Religious
Studies, University of Groningen, was devoted to the narratives of
the creation of man and woman in the first chapters of Genesis and
to the various ways in which these stories are interpreted in Judaism
and Christianity. The proceedings of the conference are contained
in the present book, which is the third volume of the series Themes
in Biblical Narrative.
The opening chapter deals with the Genesis accounts in their
broader textual and ancient Near Eastern contexts. Due attention is
given by E. Noort to the issues of gender and sexual duality. J.N.
Bremmer discusses ancient Greek conceptions of the origin of human
beings, notably the lesser-known stories about the first female(s).
The following seven chapters deal with diverse early-Jewish and
early-Christian interpretations of the ancient creation stories. J.T.A.G.M.
van Ruiten examines in detail the interpretations and re-writings of
the Genesis texts in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, particularly in
Tobit, Jubilees, 2 Enoch, and in the Sibylline Oracles. The interpreta-
tion given to the biblical texts by Philo of Alexandria—an inter-
pretation which turned out to be very influential among Christian
theologians of the first centuries—is the subject of an essay by A. van
den Hoek. References to the great Jewish Hellenistic exegete and
philosopher can be found in several other parts of this book as well.
L.J. Lietaert Peerbolte analyses the manner in which the apostle
Paul refers to the biblical creation stories in his discussion with Corinth-
ian Christians. The Church Fathers were faced with the difficult
task of reconciling their preference for celibacy with the positive view
of marriage they found in the Genesis stories. Their various solutions
are evaluated by H.S. Benjamins. Two chapters are dedicated to Jew-
ish interpretations. L. Teugels discusses the hermeneutical problems
the Rabbis encountered in their explanations of the creation narra-
tives. In this connection, she also focuses on the figure of Lilith, the
woman who, according to some later Jewish sources, was created
before Eve. WJ. van Bekkum proceeds from the opposite perspective,
drawing attention to Eve and the subsequent matriarchs as female
viii PREFACE
prototypes. He reveals how the Genesis stories about these women
helped Jews to come to terms with the issue of (in-)fertility. G.P.
Luttikhuizen concludes this part of the book with a study of the crit-
ical use of biblical materials ,in the Gnostic creation myth of The
Secret Book of John.
The last three contributions to this volume revolve around the
idea of re-creation. H. Wilcox analyses the poetic re-creation of
Adam and Eve in John Milton's Paradise Lost. In a provocative essay,
P.E. Jongsma-Tieleman re-reads the ancient stories from a "matri-
archal" background. Finally, S. Levy turns to Divine creation as a
model for human creativity. On the basis of several quite pertinent
examples, he explores the motivation underlying the ancient desire
to continue and expand the creative person's self.
I would like to express my thanks to the Faculty of Theology and
Religious Studies and to the Rudolf Agricola Institute for their organ-
izational and financial support. It is a pleasure to thank Freek van
der Steen and Brill Academic Publishers for all the help they pro-
vided in realizing the publication of the book soon after the con-
ference. Thanks also go to Miriam Craje, who prepared the list of
abbreviations and the references to ancient texts. I extend my grat-
itude to all those who participated in the conference and whose
papers and comments contributed to the final results.
Gerard P. Luttikhuizen
ABBREVIATIONS
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary
ACW Ancient Christian Writers
ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch
ANEP Ancient Near East in Pictures relating to the Old
Testament
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament
BG Berolinensis Gnosticus (Berlin Codex)
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar. Altes Testament
BT Babylonian Talmud
BZAW Beiheft zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
CBQ, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CD Cairo Damascus Document
Cod. Codex
CRINT Compendia Rerum Judaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible
EKK Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen
Testament
ExT The Expository Times
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FGrH Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker
Fr. Fragment
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und
Neuen Testaments
GCS Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten
drei Jahrhunderte
Gen R Midrash Genesis Rabbah
HAL Hebraisches und Aramaisches Lexikon zum Alten
Testament
IG Inscriptiones Graecae
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JBTh Jahrbuch fur Biblische Theologie
JSHRZ Judische Schriften aus hellenistisch-romischer Zeit
JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism