In which Noah and family leave the ark and God promises rainbows.
Book Information
Other Links
(where you can easily download sample episodes of the podcast highlight or other various podcasts I want to share)
- This book is in under copyright. Forgotten Classics has been granted the non-exclusive right to read Robert Alter's translation of Genesis and his commentary. This book is published by WW Norton. Please contact Mr. Alter or his agent for any permissions. Many thanks to Robert Alter and Georges Borchardt for their graciousness in allowing us to read this book.
- If you are enjoying this reading, please buy Genesis
. It comes to life even more when you are able to see and ponder the words.
- Story rating: R for adult situations and commentary.
- I will do my best to properly pronounce any Hebrew words but cannot promise accuracy. Biblical words may be pronounced using this guide.
Other Links
- The Dogs
- CraftLit: A Christmas Carol
- Ari and LibraryThing
- Free Reads' review of The Secret Adversary
(where you can easily download sample episodes of the podcast highlight or other various podcasts I want to share)
This was really illuminating. Alter's translation highlights a connection I had missed so far: "Noah man of soil", "kill/destroy the soil", reflecting back to the forming of the human from humus.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I am always asking in Noah story is what happened to the raven: he is mentioned in one verse as going back and forth across the waters, but after that, nothing. Why first the raven?
Thank you, Julie! Interesting and captivating once again.
//Pirvonen
I also wondered about that darned raven. And then forgot to mention it. I must look into that point!
ReplyDeleteReally liking the reading of Genesis. Though I was rather disappointed by some of the commentary on difficult passages where some options that fit better were not mentioned.
ReplyDeleteFor example the uncovering the nakedness of Noah can be seen as an expression of maternal rape and usurpation where power is exercised in this way. For example Jacob's son Reuben sleeping with Jacob's concubine and Absalom sleeping with David's harem. This theory has been supported by scripture scholars such as Scott Hahn and other Catholic/Protestant scholars.
The other involves the Nephalim and i think the idea that the "sons of God" represents the line of Seth and the daughters of men as Canites. This parallelism seem to be more consistent in that it does not require Angels to be able to have sexual relations. Though the debate among the Church Fathers who were very interested in this verse ranges from separate Angelic falls to it referring to the descendants of Seth. The non-canonicty of the book of Enoch moved the debate from them being Angels, but modern opinion varies.
On a side note, how many bad horror movie plots somehow involve some use of the Nephalim?
One other comment I have is that since you are reading Genesis as literature to your varied audience, it might be a good idea to also give some view as to how Catholics view Genesis. I know that as a long time atheist that the reading of Genesis would raise plenty of hackles as to "how can anybody believe this." Scripture has several genres and it is very important to bear that in mind when reading it. Genesis is not written in the style of history we are use to, but it does pertain to history in a true sense where a simple and metaphorical language is used to state the principle truths fundamental to our salvation. I am paraphrasing from Pius XII Encyclical Humani Generis here.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html
A chapter from the Late Fr Most's book "Free from all error" covers this well. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getchap.cfm?WorkNum=216&ChapNum=12
If you have never read that book I have it as an eBook which I made from the text at CatholicCulture.org. They actually have the text of all his writing available there.
As for the reading of the footnotes there is not perfect way to do it. Even footnotes in books are distracting as your eye moves to them and back to the passage.
Really liking the reading of Genesis. Though I was rather disappointed by some of the commentary on difficult passages where some options that fit better were not mentioned.
ReplyDeleteFor example the uncovering the nakedness of Noah can be seen as an expression of maternal rape and usurpation where power is exercised in this way. For example Jacob's son Reuben sleeping with Jacob's concubine and Absalom sleeping with David's harem. This theory has been supported by scripture scholars such as Scott Hahn and other Catholic/Protestant scholars.
The other involves the Nephalim and i think the idea that the "sons of God" represents the line of Seth and the daughters of men as Canites. This parallelism seem to be more consistent in that it does not require Angels to be able to have sexual relations. Though the debate among the Church Fathers who were very interested in this verse ranges from separate Angelic falls to it referring to the descendants of Seth. The non-canonicty of the book of Enoch moved the debate from them being Angels, but modern opinion varies.
On a side note, how many bad horror movie plots somehow involve some use of the Nephalim?
One other comment I have is that since you are reading Genesis as literature to your varied audience, it might be a good idea to also give some view as to how Catholics view Genesis. I know that as a long time atheist that the reading of Genesis would raise plenty of hackles as to "how can anybody believe this." Scripture has several genres and it is very important to bear that in mind when reading it. Genesis is not written in the style of history we are use to, but it does pertain to history in a true sense where a simple and metaphorical language is used to state the principle truths fundamental to our salvation. I am paraphrasing from Pius XII Encyclical Humani Generis here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html
A chapter from the Late Fr Most's book "Free from all error" covers this well. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getchap.cfm?WorkNum=216&ChapNum=12
If you have never read that book I have it as an eBook which I made from the text at CatholicCulture.org. They actually have the text of all his writing available there.
As for the reading of the footnotes there is not perfect way to do it. Even footnotes in books are distracting as your eye moves to them and back to the passage.
Jeff, you make some excellent points and I hadn't thought about the idea of giving a Catholic viewpoint. But considering the "how can anyone believe this" question, which is one I myself had for some time, I believe you are right. Especially in terms of more continually reminding everyone about what sort of literature this is ... those things work together.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of either Fr. Most's book or of Pope Pius's encyclical and am definitely going to read both. Just a cursory glance at them makes me wonder that I hadn't been aware of them before since they cover a subject much needed by Catholics, much less those of other beliefs. I'd love that eBook if it is easy to get it to me.
Also, I have been wondering what software you use to make eBooks. I have been trying some and not been very satisfied with the results. Beggars can't be choosers and these are all free ... but still, I wonder what an experienced software guy would recommend.
I use Pages to create eBooks and since you are also a Mac user you can do the same. It is very simple since you only have to import some styles and then use those styles on the chapter titles and export it as an ePub - a feature they added this year. I have a couple of eBook creation tools, but using Pages has the best result.
ReplyDeletehttp://support.apple.com/kb/HT4168
I'll email you a Kindle version of the book.
The encyclical is fairly short, but covers some very important territory concerning scriptural studies
Here is a good link concerning scriptural resources http://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/
I wish though the Pontifical Biblical Commission had their documents in English since they have issues some important documents.
THANK YOU! For all the scoop and the book! :-)
ReplyDelete