9/9 Class Notes

Recap of Tuesday:
Christian Bible consists of: 1. Old Testament
                                         2. Apocrypha
                                         3. New Testament (more of a 'response' to the Old Testament)
Hewbrew Scriptures:     1. The Law (Tora, 1st Five books of Moses, Pentatude)
                                     2. Prophets
                                     3. Writings
"T N K"

9/9
New Testament Genres:
      ~ Gospels  ex: Mathew, Mark, Luke, John - "bless the bed I lie on"
                                                               John is more philosophical
      ~ Letters/Epistles
      ~Textual Documents - little literary value but still extremely significant in terms of history
                - David M. Levy, Scrolling Forward, a supplementary text that demonstrates the importance of
                                for example, receipts - revealed an entire history

Oral Tradition vs Written Word
Both the Christian Bible and Hebrew Scripture show respect for the written word
     - both saved the stories from extinction by writing them down, however, it can be argued that some of the spirit of oral tradtion is lost by 'setting it in stone' (it will be the same thing everytime, rather than be alive and changing)

N. Frye
The Bible = Creation
                   Exodus  (revolution)
                   Law       (Tora)
                   Wisdom
                   Prophecy
                   Gospel
                   Apocalypse (revelation)

Biblical Incoherence
- Plotz views The Bible as a mess of incoherent stories because: over the millenium it was written, the writers thought they were adding to it, but turned out they created inconsistencies
- Frye believes that The Bible holds together in terms of the integrity of the primary images (the mountain, the cave, the gardent, the furnace)

Documentary Hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis
Julius Wellhausen

J  - Yahwist - primary story teller, female
E - Elohist, "Elohim"(God) - prophecy, dreams, visions
D - Deuteronomist
P - Priestly
R - Redactors - copy and revise

Example: Genesis 1 & 2
G1: Priestly writer(s) - very organized around numeration, logos, generations, technical details, and a transcendental God
G2: Yahwist - more anthropomorphic God
See http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/genesis_texts.html for more details

Another supplementary text of note, The Alphabet versus the Goddess (?)