Discovering Genesis

Introduction

In Discovering Genesis, Iain Provan attempts to offer his readers a brief, modernized, and accessible introduction to the book of Genesis, focusing on its structure, content, logical concerns, valuable information, and different interpretive views. He also tries to address the theological and historical aspects of the text. 

Summary of the book

Provan begins by providing a brief introduction to the structure and content of the book of Genesis, which helps the reader become familiar with the book's purpose. He highlights the distinctiveness of Genesis from the other books in the Pentateuch with some examples, which is helpful. After this introduction, Provan addresses the history of interpretations that have been used for reading Genesis. 

Genesis History of Interpretations 

Peshat: Provan primarily mentions the Hellenistic philosopher Philo of Alexandria (25 BC-AD 50), a proponent of a literal reading, who took the history of biblical narratives seriously and appreciated the literal narrative. In Judaism, this kind of approach is understood as Peshat, discerning the meaning of the language and paying careful attention to it. 

Midrahich Interpretation: Provan also introduces the school of Midrashic interpretation, particularly Rabbi Ishmael (2nd century AD), which was closely associated with the literal approach to hermeneutics. According to Provan, dealing with these views is important, as “we should read what was now to become the Old Testament, in the purity of what they should believe and how they should live.” 

Provan then divides the history of interpretation into four major sections: 

1. Medieval Readings(476-1350) 

2. Renaissance 

3. Reformation (1250-1648) 

4. Modern Readings (1648-today). 

A. Medieval Reading

In the Medieval readings, Provan depicts that the literal sense was not the only sense for readers of Genesis. Even Peter Abelard (1079 – 1142 -12th century) encouraged different readings, i.e., literal, moral, and allegorical. However, Rashi (AD 1040 – 11050), the first Western Christian scholar, argued that Genesis should be dealt with only in a literal sense. 

On the opposite side, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153) placed little importance on the literal sense, focusing instead on understanding the text as speaking of the joyful union of the human soul with God.  Provan then shares that the Cathars of the 13th century also denied the literal interpretation. Meanwhile, the English Franciscan monk Roger Bacon (1214 -94) argued that the Bible's spiritual meaning can only be based on its literal sense. 

B. Renaissance & Reformation Period

In the Renaissance and Reformation period (c. AD 1350 – 1648), Provan describes the Renaissance as an intellectual, literary, and scientific movement from the 14th to the 16th century in Christian Europe. During this period, ancient texts were widely spread, and renewed attention was given to the content of biblical texts, reading them in their original languages. 

Plain Meaning

At the heart of this movement, Martin Luther became a promoter of a new and powerful Christian movement, which laid considerable emphasis on the plain meaning of the biblical text, as articulated by its original meaning. In this movement, the theological value of the Bible was to be found not in what was hidden in the text. Luther greatly abhorred allegories, and John Calvin held similar views. In this period, the nature of the Book of Genesis as a historical document began to be illuminated more than ever before. 

C. Modern Reading: 

In the Modern reading period (c. AD 1648), a new era began in Europe after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the end of the Civil War. During this period, the liberal political goal could be advanced by Baruch Spinoza (1632 -77) to undermine the authority of the Bible. 

Bible readers in the 17th and 18th centuries were committed to the literal sense of the text, but they found themselves in circumstances that required some reassessment of how exactly the Bible should be read. 

Importance of Literal Text 

After recounting these four different periods of interpretation, Provan gives an explicit proposal: “If the history of Genesis has taught us anything, it is that the literal sense of the text is of primary importance in understanding what the book has to say.” Hence, Provan insists that we must attempt to locate Genesis in its time and place. To better understand the book of Genesis, Provan also includes subsequent approaches in his analysis (i.e., Source, Form, Redaction, Rhetorical, Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Narrative, Social-Scientific, Feminist, and finally, Canonical Criticism). 

Provan Explains:

1. Source Criticism (20th century), has not endured well over time. Uncertainty has arisen about Wellhausen’s (1844 – 1918) ability to reconstruct documentary sources lying behind Genesis with much detachment. However, the outcome of Wellhausen’s work left some Old Testament scholars weary of an exercise that diverted attention away from the book of Genesis. 

2. Form Criticism (20th century), critical reading of Genesis emphasised the question of genre, reading the text according to the conventions that operated in the culture in which the text was produced, rather than those of our own. However, this approach unnecessarily narrowed the ideas of oral tradition and how it worked. 

3. Redaction Criticism, the critical study of the Hexateuch was pioneered by Gerhard Von Rad (1901 -71), which helps us see that our Biblical texts are indeed written from a particular point of view with a message to communicate. Similarly, Rhetorical Criticism also communicates its particular message to an audience. 

4. Structuralism Criticism, the long-standing preoccupation with authorial intent in the modern period is abandoned, which completely differs from Redaction and Rhetorical Criticism. Structuralism believes in metanarratives, overarching stories about reality, including human reality, while post-structuralism, conversely, declares itself incredulous toward metanarratives. Alongside this, the Narrative Critics had a profound impact on reading biblical narratives in the 1980s, highly influenced by Robert Alter. 

5. Social-Scientific Criticism, Provan depicts that it was impacted especially by the ongoing secularization of Biblical studies in this period. Modern Western universities ceased to share the overall theological perspective of either Jewish or Christian readers who had preceded them, and the inbuilt resistance to relocating the Bible in a less humanistic frame of reference than previously more completely dissipated. 

6. In Feminist Criticism, issues were raised concerning not only the text but also the way it has been read throughout the ages. They use feminist principles and ideology to critique the language of literature. 

7. Canonical Criticism, is best understood as a complex historical process within ancient Israel and then the Church, entailing the collecting, selecting, and ordering of texts to serve a normative function as scripture within the continuing religious community. 

In conclusion, Provan asserts that the literal sense of the text is of primary importance, as it helps to understand what the book of Genesis has to say. Then, in the following chapters, Provan covers the first 11 chapters of Genesis with great dedication, as they are of great theological concern. He tries to unpack the difficult theological questions from these chapters (Genesis 1-11). 

Problematics & important Texts/ Figures in Genesis 

“Let us make man” 

Provan describes Genesis 1 as Act 1 and Genesis 2 as Act 2. According to him, Genesis 1 and 2 should be considered together, as both concern the creation of the world. In Act 1, Provan shares some problematic texts. The first problematic text is in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man,” which has led to speculation in the reading tradition and some concern, especially among ancient Jews, as it suggests the divinity might be plural. For Christians, this refers to the three persons of the Holy Spirit. According to Philo, it refers to angels (Isa 6:8). Other commentators see it as simply a conventional way of speaking, analogous to the “royal we.” 

“In the image and likeness of God” 

Another issue he specifies is about “the image and likeness of God,” for which he provides two biblical interpretations: Ontological and Functional. In the Ontological approach, the image refers to natural qualities, which differ from Jewish wisdom, while the Functional interpretation suggests that the human image is the bearer of God in Genesis 1. 

“The Garden of Eden” 

Provan also discusses selected issues of interpretation in Act 2, Genesis 2:4-25. According to him, the garden in Eden is not so much a particular place in the world but a state of being in the world as it is when there is harmony between God and his creatures. He also provides a brief understanding of Adam and the two trees in Eden. At the end of this act, the author discusses male and female, disagreeing with Augustine’s differentiation between men and women in terms of the divine image of God. 

“Evil, Temptation & Sin” 

Provan continues Act 2 with Genesis 3, discussing the entrance of evil, temptation, sin, and its consequences for both women and men, leading to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. He sums up these events in Genesis 3 as cataclysmic, somehow inevitably changing everything about the world in which we live. However, according to him, the Old Testament does not regard it as inevitable that we must live in the world of Genesis 3, but we must turn to God to know a different world. So, Genesis claims that there are two pathways upon which we can walk in life: One involves obedience and blessings, the other disobedience and cursing. We should choose life. 

“Cains Wife?” 

Then in Act 3, Genesis 4, Provan again discusses some problematic text issues. He assumes an already populated earth, asking where Cain’s wife came from and noting the reference to the building of a city (4:17), which again presupposes population density. 

“Nephilim” 

Another problematic text issue is about the Nephilim, who lived before the flood, but then how did they survive after the flood, as they reappear in (Num 13:33?). According to Provan, some Jewish traditions say that one of the Nephilim hitched a ride on the roof of the ark, surviving the flood along with Noah and his family. Probably, was he having fun?

“Enoch” 

Afterwards, Provan sums up Act 3 by talking about the descendants of Adam, giving a specific example of Enoch. The seventh from Adam's line. Who walked with God. Reminding us of God walking in the garden in communion with the first human (Adam). 

“Noah” 

In Acts 4-6 of Gen 6:9–11:26, Provan briefly talks about the flood and the Tower of Babel. He depicts that the boat which saved Noah’s family is unsurprisingly read in later Christian tradition as analogous to the Church, and the water symbolizes baptism, which now saves us as well. In such Christian readings, Noah also prefigures Christ. Further, Provan discusses the common language that Noah’s family and the entire world had (Gen 11:1) before the Tower of Babel was built to reach the heavens. Babylonians understood Babel to mean the "gate of god" and thought that was how god may enter the earthly realm (the Babylonian foundation of religious ideology). However, according to the Hebrew view, this was the wrong approach to God. Heaven could not be brought down by building towers. Because of this, the true living God confused the human language so that their wickedness might be contained. If not, then the Mesopotamian religion would have built a corrupt civilization throughout the earth, and there would have been no one stopping them. This incident provided the immediate backdrop for the story of Genesis that follows from 11:27 onwards. 

“Abraham” 

In the following acts, Provan briefly devotes the final three chapters of the book to the Patriarchal narratives (Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph). According to Provan, Gordon Wenham plausibly suggests that we have a progression of thought, i.e., Abraham is blessed and is a bearer of blessing, and because of that, all of his family is blessed. These blessings are based on Noah’s covenant, upon which all the later biblical covenants are made, for it establishes that God will never give up on his creation plan. The covenant with Abraham comes next in line. 

Provan declares that despite Abraham’s failure, we still see in Gen 18:8 that Abraham is drawn into God’s confidence for the promise to be fulfilled because it is through him that all the Nations on Earth will be blessed. Then Provan also shares the strategy devised by Sarah, which encouraged Abraham to take her servant Hagar as a concubine to produce an heir, as they couldn’t trust in God’s promise. When Hagar became pregnant, she had to flee from her family home because of Sarah’s harsh treatment. Because of that, Hagar also received an Abraham-like promise from God (Gen 16:10), as God was not only in his promise to Abraham but also to other people. 

“Hagar” 

Then, Provan talks about Hagar’s role in Genesis, which is reflected to a significant degree in later literature, drama, art, and music. In the New Testament, she is seen as a picture of slavery to the Jewish law that the Apostle Paul wants to see abolished in the church. In Islam, by contrast, Hagar is a woman of true faith, indeed a monotheist in a pagan world, a mother of Arabs, and a faithful messenger appointed by God. Provan also mentions Ishmael, who in later reading traditions is known as a person outside God’s grace.  Augustine and Shylock find themselves ironically in the position of Ishmael, an outcast from society. But in modern art and literature, Ishmael can also be portrayed as an insider (1808) and heroic, as in Byron’s “The Island” (1823) and Daniel Quinn’s “Ishmael” (1992). 

“Isaac” 

At the end of this act, Provan briefly talks about the binding of Isaac (the Akedah) or the sacrifice. For Christian readers, the story of Abraham and Isaac has provided an important example of self-sacrificial obedience to God’s will. In the Christian framework, the binding of Isaac also foreshadows Christ’s sacrifice. 

“Jacob” 

In Act 9, Provan briefly discusses the story of Jacob and his family's favouritism. According to Provan, Isaac, being old, wanted to bless Esau because he loved him, and Jacob was his mother’s favourite. Because of this family favouritism, Rebekah cunningly stole Esau's blessing for Jacob. But according to Provan, Jacob is also not a blameless man, he is a slippery man. In contrast, Nicholas Udall’s “The History of Jacob and Esau” (1557-8) sees Jacob as the righteous Hebrew (Protestant) and Esau as a pagan (Catholic). 

“Joseph” 

Finally, in the last chapters of his book, Provan briefly talks about Joseph, his family, and Judah. According to him, Joseph occupies a pivotal place in the biblical story, as an outstanding personality and an astute administrator. According to Provan, no biblical character has inspired more subsequent literature than Joseph. In both rabbinic and Christian traditions, Joseph is understood as a righteous man. According to Athanasius and Cyprian, Joseph is a model of constancy to God in the face of enemies, temptation, and trials. Provan also sees the readings associated with Joseph as a ‘type’ of Christ. Provan then talks about Joseph’s trouble in Gen 39-40, where Potiphar’s wife tries to fulfil her lust with Jacob. But Joseph, being a virtuous man, kept God’s commandment under great duress. Provan depicts that this story can also be read typologically in the pre-modern period. For example, in Bede’s commentary on the Pentateuch (8th century), Joseph is a type of Christ, as he did not commit adultery by accepting false teachings, but left his life (garments) in their hands. Because of this incident, Provan says, the foreign slave Joseph, in Genesis 41, rose to a position of great power in one of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient world. According to early Jewish readers, this elevation in status was a reward for Joseph’s virtuous life. 

Apart from Joseph’s narrative, Provan also mentions the most prominent brother in the narrative of Gen 37-50, and the answer surely is Judah. According to Provan, Judah was a man who did not care about his family or friends, did not mourn anyone’s death, and was a man with a double standard. Provan then talks about the dream that Joseph had seen about his brothers bowing down before him, which was ultimately inherited by Judah. Lastly, Provan again mentions Joseph, being an important figure in the Renaissance. In this way, Provan closes his contribution to the understanding of the book of Genesis. 

Conclusion 

Iain Provan has made a significant effort to help others better understand Genesis. As a reader, I found it to be insightful and indicative. The first four chapters are excellent and equipping, especially in how we should read the text with the right understanding. Also, Provan’s approach to the other six chapters is academically brilliant. It would certainly be encouraged to have a copy of such a profound detailed book that enhances our understanding of how to approach the book of Genesis.