Liberalism vs Conservatism

Discovered: 1849

Published 1876

Dated around 12th Century BCE

Written on 7 tablets, nearly 10,000 words: http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html

Striking similarities with Genesis 1

Liberalist thinkers believed Genesis 1 to have borrowed from Enuma Elish

This fits in with the documentary hypothesis

Similarities between Enuma Elish and Genesis 1

Why borrow from the Babylonians?

• Jewish exile was in Babylon
• They would have been familiar with Enuma Elish
• Jewish faith in their God needed to be restored
• God's place in Jewish life and culture needed to be restored

A Conservative Response

• Downplay the similarities, point out the differences.

• Rejection of Documentary hypothesis - Genesis comes before Enuma Elish.

Differences between Genesis and Enuma Elish

• Polytheism vs Monotheism

• No relation to Genesis 2

• Man as a savage slave vs man made in God's image out of love.

• "`Man' shall be his name. Truly, savage-man I will create. He shall be charged with the service of the gods That they might be at ease."

• Chaos vs Order

• Enuma Elish as polemical, Genesis as creation account.

Other areas of debate between Liberals and Conservatives?

THE STORY

• The Enuma Elish begins by describing an epic war between several gods, existing before the universe we live in.Ultimately, the god Marduk is victorious, and his killing of the goddess Tiamat results in the creation of Earth and sky, when her body is torn in two.
• Marduk then creates separately the stars, seas, weather and everything on Earth. Supporters of Tiamat are initally slaves to the other Gods
• Then Marduk creates humans to do the work of these gods, allowing them to rest and humanity to become enslaved.
• Marduk is proclaimed the king of all the gods.

• There are 6 stages of work by Marduk, then a 7th stage, of rest

• There are 6 days of work by God, then a 7th day, of rest

• There are 6 generations of gods, each responsible for something, e.g. the sky, the earth, things of the earth, the seas.

• The 6 generations correspond to the 6 days of creation in genesis

• The stages of creation are the same in both accounts. So days 1,2,3 in Genesis correspond with stages 1,2,3 in the Enuma Elish.

• Humans appear on day 6, and stage 6, followed by a period of rest. God rests for day 7 in Genesis, gods rest during stage 7 in Enuma Elish.

• Both accounts separate the creation of the earth and sky from that of the sun and stars

Liberal

• Focus on Hermeneutics
• Critique of biblical texts
• Rejection of divine inspiration
• Non-propositional
• Undogmatic
• Open minded
• Looks at context

Babylonian Creation Myth:

Enuma Elish

Conservative

The Documentary Hypothesis

• This hypothesis is a result of liberalist examination of the Torah, and posits that it is composed of the work of 4 main sources, known as J, E, D, and P.
• The theory looks largely at the changes in language and style used in different sections of the Torah, and rejects the traditional view of Moses as having written the whole of the Torah.
• Its main propoent is Wellhausen

Liberalism

vs

Conservatism

• Traditionalist
• Inerrancy of the bible
• Importance of divine inspiration
• Propositional
• Dogmatic
• Close minded
• Often literalist

What do we mean by

"liberal" and "conservative"?

Did You Know?

• Liberalist thinkers began seriously questioning the authority of the Bible from 17th Century onwards, after the enlightenment.

• Conservative traditionalists did not like people questioning the Bible, arguing that it was divinely inspired by God.

The Creation Story

• Literal meaning
• Propositional
• Written by Moses
• Written 13th century BCE
• Inspired Babylonians
• Aim: Inspired by God
• Rejection of the Documentary hypothesis

Liberalism vs Conservatism

• Non-literal meaning
• Non propositional
• Written by a number of sources
• Written 5th-6th century BCE
• Aspects borrowed from Babylonians
• Aim: to exalt God to the Jews
• Use of the Documentary Hypothesis

What are the liberal and conservative views on the creation stories in Genesis?