Customer Reviews

Understanding Genesis (The Heritage of Biblical Israel)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book takes an exegetical approach to Genesis as a work created by writers who saw far beyond their contemporary culture to create an enduring statement about a singular God, his greatest creation (the human being) and the moral and ethical demands that God places upon us. He compares Genesis to other great creation myths, and shows two primary things; 1) that a the monotheistic belief places God above and beyond all of nature, which is radically different from other contemporaneous polytheistic religions, and 2) that there is an order, logic and morality in the world that people must follow in order to not be estranged from God and ultimately themselves and society. Law, justice, mercy, charity are values expressed in a book which was written at a time when these were radical ideas. The author's mastery of history and religion are forged into an engaging, powerful exposition of the profound meaning of Genesis and it's seminal importance in the history of human thought.

Sarna puts Genesis in its historical context, showing details that would have made many stories from Genesis more comprehensible to Bible-era readers. For example, today's readers may be a bit baffled by Abraham's occasional attempts to pass off Sarah as his sister. But Sarna explains that in the ancient Mideast women had the status of a "sister-wife", superior to other wives. Similarly, Sarna clarifies the Tower of Babel story, explaining how the Torah makes fun of paganism. Reading Sarna won't necessarily change your mind about large theological questions; believers will remain believers after reading him, and unbelievers will remain unbelievers. But Sarna gives background that makes the Torah come to life a bit more.

This book deals with interpretation of some of the stories in Genesis (creation, flood, tower etc). Sarna explains that these accounts were written particularly to show the superiority of Yahweh to pagan religions and not as much to simply narrate how these things happened historically. The author writes from a relatively conservative standpoint here but does not assume LITERAL interpretation of many parts of genesis - rather he sees them as being written in ways that pagan polytheists of 5000 years ago would understand and appreciate. Highly recommended for any Jew/Christian interested in the REAL interpretation of Genesis.

This book does an excellent job at explaining historical and other bases of Genesis. I found the writing very approachable and practical. Compared with pure philosophy books, like "Guide for the Perplexed," this is a light read (which I mean in a good sense).

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to flush out their understanding of Genesis in a historical light. Although the book gets a little dry and over-specialized toward the end, overall it is extremely engaging, and useful as a sort of manual for Genesis. By reading Genesis, then reading Sarna's historical facts, and then re-reading Genesis, an entire world is opened up. This book is not for anyone who takes the Bible literally, atheist or no. In presenting his historical facts, Sarna also provides a valuable commentary on the themes in Genesis. It is important to remember, however, in reading this book that Genesis is a gem with an infinite number of facets. Understanding Genesis reveals a few of them. Give it a try, but never forget that history is only a small part of the Genesis story.

As a self-professed evangelical Christian who is tired of the anti-science, anti-intellectual rhetoric that typifies the discourse coming from the American religious right these days, this book is a refreshing take on the true significance of the Book of Genesis both as a historical document and as religious text and I urge Christians of all walks to take a read.

According to Sarna, Genesis is remarkable because of its radical departure from the Near Eastern myths and motifs of the times, the creation story in particular, which contrasts the absolute power and righteousness of a monotheistic deity with the capriciousness and unpredictability of polytheism, places an emphasis on morality as the key to a meaningful life as opposed to preoccupation with immortality typical of pagan traditions, is deliberately non-political, non-cultic and non-magical, describes mankind as the pinnacle of creation, endowed with free will and having to take responsibility for his own actions, as compared to the creation of man as an afterthought to serve the physical needs of the gods. This is where the meat of Genesis lies, and ironically, American evangelicals have spent the last few decades trying to infuse Genesis with the "magic" that the author(s) of Genesis tried so hard to eliminate. They've done this by propagating a "literal" interpretation fraught with logical and scientific potholes that can only be filled by an almighty genie who despite creating the physical laws of the universe violated all of them in his very first act of creation and then writing it down in just the fashion to confound all but the most faithful.

Sarna's analysis reveals the irrational bias many modern American evangelicals have in reading Genesis from the perspective of a 21st century, western educated individual with an obsession toward a certain version of historicity. We expect the ancients to both understand and care just as deeply as we do about every name being included in a genealogy and ensuring that the reader doesn't misunderstand the second law of thermodynamics. This type of hubris not only makes all Christians look foolish, but worst of all diverts attention from the concepts and ideas that leave, in my opinion, an indelible mark of divine inspiration, which is much more shocking and awe-inspiring to me than getting all the animals on earth onto an boat and then getting the kangaroos and kolas thousands of miles to Australia without leaving any fossil record.

Sarna's book reinforces for me that God can work through the natural world just as effectively as the supernatural and one should not give greater credence to one or the other. That the book he inspired probably came to us much like the universe shouldn't try anyone's faith, it should only serve to focus us on the real reasons why the Bible has endured throughout the ages and continues to be relevant to us now more than ever.

I learned of this book through Prof. Christine Hayes' free Introduction to the Hebrew Bible video lecture series on the Yale University web site. I trusted Prof. Hayes' recommendation despite the book being more than forty years old. I was not disappointed. The late Nahum Sarna wrote well. His thought process was impressive. The book was intended to make sometimes complex analysis accessible to general readers and it does that. The subject matter embraces an accumulation of discoveries made and conclusions arrived at over more than a hundred years by a collective many whom Sarna represents well.
The context Sarna provided through comparisons with other ancient texts and elucidation of the original Hebrew was beneficial. More impressive to me was what logical thinking has been able to elicit from the plain English text. From what I have seen from searching the internet on respectable sites and in key databases, I would guess the material in this book has not been overturned or dramatically challenged by discoveries since it was written. What I gained most from this book and the context it placed familiar biblical figures in was knowledge of men and women who began to feel like ancestors.

Sarna brings a wealth of historical and current knowledge into the reading of Genesis. He presents each story in its historical and cultural context. For example on creation "Not science ... It should be obvious that by the nature of things, none of these stories can possible be the product of human memory, not in any modern sense of the word scientific accounts of the origin ...". Many of the insights seem obvious when first heard, but I hadn't thought of them. For example when discussing Cain and Abel "it must be remembered ... no one alive had yet known the experience of death, so that Cain had no way of determining that his blow again Abel could extinguish his life.". Sarna draws clear contrast between the Noah flood and the Mesopotamian flood stories.

As Sarna moves into the Patriarchal period, his number harmony and genealogy tables are useful . The geographic information on "the problem of Ur", and "Sodom and Gomorrah" as well as presented maps, are also helpful. Sarna however does more than just present background information, and discusses how the doctrines and "moral" of the stories are presented. I did perhaps think his chapter on Binding of Isaac, could have been a little stronger and the Joseph story is about a fourth of Genesis and just 1 chapter is devoted here to it.

This book displays excellent scholarship, yet it is very easy and informative to read. Sarna compares and contrasts the Israelite theological views with those of their polytheistic neighbors, taking into account works such as the Gilgamesh Epic and Enuma Elish. E. A. Speiser's "Genesis" (Volume 1 of the Anchor Bible published in 1964) covers similar ground in the sections following his translation, but in a briefer, more text critical and historical critical way. Sarna takes a broader view on the subject. Because of its 1966 publication date, Sarna's book doesn't reflect the more recent archaeological data such as that covered by Finkelstein and Silberman in "The Bible Unearthed".

There are a good index, an extensive bibliography, and many chapter notes. Nevertheless, the book is delightfully easy to read. I withheld the fifth star because of the date of publication and my preference for Speiser's work, yet I felt rewarded and informed by reading Sarna's book. However, Christian fundamentalists probably wouldn't like it.

Fascinating discussion of Genesis in context of its time, showing moral genius of the Jewish people by one of the outstanding American bible scholars of our time.