Re: [TruthTalk] Fw: Rikk Watts on Genesis 1

[Terry Clifton]

Debbie Sawczak wrote: Stab at summary (2 paragraphs, 300 wds):   Every language has markers hinting at the kind of text, what its point is, and what structures to expect, both in speaking and writing. But these markers hitch a ride on words and sentences and their arrangement. When you translate those words and sentences carefully, you get the lexical meaning but not the "markers" as markers, because in the target language they match up differently with word meanings and sentence building blocks--and besides, the same types of texts may not even exist in the target language. So you have to dig into the bigger context of the original language to understand what kind of text it is. Digging into that cultural context also clues you in to what metaphors were available. This isn't frill; as his first illustration with the Asians and Australians demonstrates, it's integral to understanding.   Genesis 1 is a certain kind of text. It is not poetry, but not straight narrative either. There are devices ("markers") that let us know this. It's a story of origins whose main point is not to tell how long it took to make each thing, by what method, or in what order, but to establish the source of everything that is, who is in charge of it, what our place is in it, and what relationships exist as the ground of living. Since the best metaphor available is the king/god who builds and decorates his temple/palace and then graces it with his image (and Watts draws attention to some of the specific vocabulary that carries this metaphor), that's the metaphor at work in Genesis 1. It has implications for how we live: how we think of other created things and people and how we treat them. If we don't see this, we are misunderstanding the text.   That's the gist, I think. It makes perfect sense to me, draws from me a response of worship to God, and was both exciting and enjoyable to read.   Debbie =============================================================== To each his own, I guess.  I worshipped God long before I read the article and all it drew from me was a big yawn.  I did find it interesting that this "expert" allows for the possibility of evolution. Terry