Created in His Image: A Universal Civilizational Foundation
There are, in the Book of Genesis, three pericopes relating to the creation of the human being. They are found respectively in: Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:7, 15, and 18-24; and Genesis 5:1-3.
Genesis 1:26-28: The first pericope presents the creation of the male being and the female being as simultaneous. Both are created in the Image and Likeness of God (Tselem V’Demout).
Genesis 2:7, 15, 18-24: The second pericope shows us the male human being alone in the Garden of Eden; his solitude with God is not good. God then forms the woman from a rib of the man so that she may be his partner in the administration of the Creation that God entrusts to them.
Genesis 5:1-3: The third pericope introduces the "stories of man," the beginning of the human adventure after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It summarizes and reconciles the anthropologies of the first two accounts. It establishes a full and complete equality between man and woman. It founds and reaffirms that the dignity and image of God are not lost by the Fall or by time, but are passed down from generation to generation. This is the foundation of the universality of human dignity: it is inscribed in the very heredity of all humanity. This Image of God within us is our DNA: Unalterable Dignity (Dignité Non Altérable).
The Editor does not "change" the text; he is its guardian!
Apparently, these three accounts may seem contradictory. They are not! Oral transmission always precedes written text. These pericopes represent very ancient oral traditions that The Editor of the Book of Genesis considered so "sacred" that he included them as they were in the text. What constitutes their unique difference among the creation myths of the human person is their proclamation of the radical dignity of the human being created in the Image of God and in His likeness. We will see subsequently that this affirmation would become a universal civilizational foundation.
Don't shoot the piano player!
For those who are already disposed to slay me for having dared to write that the text of Genesis had an "Editor," reflect for a moment before nailing me to the pillory.
When the rabbinic tradition, the two Talmuds (Babylon and Jerusalem), the Council of Jamnia (Yavne) which closed the canon of inspired writings appearing in the Hebrew Bible, and the Torah itself present Moses, our Teacher (Moshe Rabbenu), as the scribe who transcribes the divine words (Exodus 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 22, 24): what are they doing?
The answer is: They are performing "textual criticism"!
They dare to attribute an author to a text and a text to its readers. They transmit it in the state in which it was bequeathed to them so that following generations can read it and be inspired by it.
Scientific textual criticism is the study of the processes of text transmission, its variants (Ketiv, "what is written"; Kere, "what must be read"), the medium used (parchment, papyrus), the locations where the oldest witnesses are found, their forms (scrolls, codex), the dating of the manuscripts, as well as the linguistic influences of older literary traditions and the environments of production...
I'LL STOP HERE UNTIL THE NEXT POST! :-)