The story of the Garden of Eden is familiar to most people,readers of the Bible or otherwise.I intend in the present article to look afresh at this story and to raise questions about how it is traditionally understood...The story of the Garden of Eden is familiar to most people,readers of the Bible or otherwise.I intend in the present article to look afresh at this story and to raise questions about how it is traditionally understood.To begin,what does the reader of the first book of the Bible,commonly known as“Genesis”,learn about the garden?We are told that trees grow there(Gen 2,9),and rivers have their source there(2,10).Among the trees,three are signalled out for their importance:the tree of life,which stands in the middle of the garden,and which is intimately associated with the tree of the knowing of good and bad.A third tree,which is easily ignored,is a fig tree.When the human couple become aware of their nakedness,we are told that they“sew together fig leaves and make themselves loin clothes”(3,7).(Never mind how they got hold of needle and thread!The nature of the first two of the above-mentioned trees indicates that the reader is introduced into a world of mythology).展开更多
The paper first presents the translation of Hebrew Genesis entitled At the Start... Genesis Made New. The new version belongs to the field of ethno-poetics. It intends to take today＇s listener/reader back in time by ...The paper first presents the translation of Hebrew Genesis entitled At the Start... Genesis Made New. The new version belongs to the field of ethno-poetics. It intends to take today＇s listener/reader back in time by capturing the characteristics of the original Hebrew and expressing them through the medium of modern English. If translations may be said to reflect archaeological layers of social history, At the Start... Genesis Made New attempts to dig down with the purpose of reaching the deepest layer： critical analysis of terminology in the Garden of Eden story provides insights into the primitive Hebrew society that invented this particular myth more than 3,000 years ago. The paper also looks at the same story as translated in the Revised Standard Version, first published as the Authorised Version or King James Bible in 1661, and The New English Bible published in 1961. Different world views characteristic of European society in recent centuries colours the understanding of the biblical text. The translations are affected in consequence. A comparison between the versions is revealing…展开更多
文摘The story of the Garden of Eden is familiar to most people,readers of the Bible or otherwise.I intend in the present article to look afresh at this story and to raise questions about how it is traditionally understood.To begin,what does the reader of the first book of the Bible,commonly known as“Genesis”,learn about the garden?We are told that trees grow there(Gen 2,9),and rivers have their source there(2,10).Among the trees,three are signalled out for their importance:the tree of life,which stands in the middle of the garden,and which is intimately associated with the tree of the knowing of good and bad.A third tree,which is easily ignored,is a fig tree.When the human couple become aware of their nakedness,we are told that they“sew together fig leaves and make themselves loin clothes”(3,7).(Never mind how they got hold of needle and thread!The nature of the first two of the above-mentioned trees indicates that the reader is introduced into a world of mythology).
文摘The paper first presents the translation of Hebrew Genesis entitled At the Start... Genesis Made New. The new version belongs to the field of ethno-poetics. It intends to take today＇s listener/reader back in time by capturing the characteristics of the original Hebrew and expressing them through the medium of modern English. If translations may be said to reflect archaeological layers of social history, At the Start... Genesis Made New attempts to dig down with the purpose of reaching the deepest layer： critical analysis of terminology in the Garden of Eden story provides insights into the primitive Hebrew society that invented this particular myth more than 3,000 years ago. The paper also looks at the same story as translated in the Revised Standard Version, first published as the Authorised Version or King James Bible in 1661, and The New English Bible published in 1961. Different world views characteristic of European society in recent centuries colours the understanding of the biblical text. The translations are affected in consequence. A comparison between the versions is revealing…
