Bible Books
008
In the Beginning: A New English Rendition of the Book of Genesis
Translated with Commentary and Notes by Notes by Everett Fox
(New York: Schocken Books, 1983) 248 pp., $14.95
This new translation and concise commentary is unique among English Bible translations. Its orientation derives from Fox’s extensive study of the Buber-Rosenzweig Bible translation, begun by these two Jewish thinkers in 1925 and completed by Buber in 1962, following Rosenzweig’s death in 1929. The underlying assumption of the Buber-Rosenzweig translation was that the Bible was originally oral literature, intended to be read aloud rather than silently. This assumption produced three corollaries:
1. The text should be printed in lines that reflect oral recitation.
2. The ancients were acutely aware of the connection between names and similar sounding words in the surrounding narrative, and this must be reflected in the translation.
3. Leitwörter or leading words that recur throughout a book or a unit should be translated with the same word to retain the ties created between the various contexts.
The uniqueness of Fox’s translation lies in his acceptance of these principles; In the Beinning is thus, in Fox’s own words, a translation “in the Buber-Rosenzweig tradition.”
Setting up the verses into poetic-like lines or “cola” (singular, “colon”) increases the impact of the text on the reader or listener. For preexample, God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:1–2 is generally printed in prose; thus, the action proceeds too quickly for the momentous command to be perceived. Fox renders these lines:
Now after these events it was
that God tested Avraham
and said to him:
“Avraham!”
He said,
“Here I am.”
He said:
“Pray take your son
your only-one,
whom you love,
Yitzhak
and go-you-forth …”
In verse two, Fox captures the likely tension in Abraham’s mind as God initially withholds the name of the sacrificial victim. Rashi, the 11th-century Jewish French Bible exegete, cites a midrash that captures this: “Your son.” He (Abraham) said: I have two sons. “Your, only-one.” He (Abraham) said: Each one is his mother’s only son. (God) said, “Whom you love.” He (Abraham) replied: I love them both. Then he (God) said, “Yitzhak (Isaac).”
This build-up to the name “Isaac” is lost in many translations; the New English Bible, for example, renders, “Take your son Isaac, your only son, whom you love …”
Fox’s rendition of the entire Hebrew text in one form, not distinguishing between poetry and prose, is appropriate because the traditional Hebrew text rarely distinguishes between poetry and prose, and it is unlikely that the classification of literature into these two mutually exclusive categories existed in ancient Israel.
The connection between names and narrative is reflected in Abigail’s comment to David about her churlish husband Nabal (1 Samuel 25:25), “For he is exactly like his name; his name is Nabal (churl) and churlishness is his style.” Fox explicitly brings out such connections by translating names like Jacob as “Yaakov/Heel-Holder” (Genesis 25:26) and then translating 27:36 as, “Is that why his name is called Yaakov/Heel Sneak? For he has now sneaked against me twice,” Through this rendition, the connections between Hebrew akev (heel), which Yaakov (Jacob) grasped at birth (25:26), and Jacob’s nature—or shall I say fate—as a sneak (vayaakveni) (27:37) are made explicit in the English text, as they are explicit to the Hebrew reader. In other translations, such folk etymologies are usually relegated to notes, and the immediacy of such connections is often lost.
Repetition of words within units or between units is an important characteristic of biblical narrative, For example, the words lek leka (go-you-forth) frame God’s commands to Abraham; they are used in 12:1, where God tells Abraham to leave for Canaan, and in 22:2, where God tells him to offer up Isaac. This phrase is found nowhere else in Genesis, and its repetition is an intentional narrative device to frame God’s trials of Abraham. No major translation save Fox’s encourages the reader to notice this frame.
Significant word repetitions within one unit can be illustrated from Genesis 11:1–9, “The Tower of Babel.” Fox’s translation faithfully reflects these recurrences. In their excitement to build a tower, “lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth!” the builders say “Come-now!” twice (11:3, 4). Just as the builders say “Come now,” God counters with the words “Come now” (11:7) to force their project to a halt. Furthermore, in another instance of symmetry, the people express their fear of being scattered upon the face of the earth (11:4), and four verses later God punishes them with what they feared, “So YHWH scattered them.” By reflecting the Hebrew text precisely, Fox picks up the messages expressed through structure and literary repetitions.
The commentary and notes are much less extensive than those in the Anchor Bible or Old Testament Library, but they are often 009insightful and are not pedantic. They are largely concerned with literary or theological matters. Extensive source-critical, historical and archaeological notes are lacking. Emendations, either conjectural (e.g., p. 27 kanim for kenim) or based on the ancient translations, such as the Septuagint or Vulgate, are very rare. The theological comments are nondenominational and would appeal to any reader interested in understanding the Bible on its own terms.
Any project of this type will have some awkward or inconsistent renderings. I do not understand how Noah’s ark (8:4) “came to rest … on the seventh day of the New-Moon” (translate “month”) or how (4:12) “soil … giver[s] strength” (translate “produce”). Furthermore, the underlying contention of Buber, Rosenzweig and Fox that the entire Bible is oral and was originally spoken is not entirely compelling. Still, this translation and short commentary is a pleasure to use, whether alone, with the Hebrew text, or in conjunction with longer commentaries or different translations. It is the best translation available for reading aloud or for understanding the stucture of the Hebrew text.
Finally, In the Beginning is so different from the standard translations that it forces the reader/listener to confront the text anew, breaking free of habitual translations. Often the readings, though slightly divergent from the standard translations, reflect great differences. For example, after God flooded the earth with water, should we render, “But God remembered Noah” (8:1 King James/Revised Standard), implying a God who forgot Noah while he was busy unleashing his destructive forces, or should we translate (Fox), “But God paid mind to Noah,” implying a God who in the midst of his destruction never quite forgot “righteous” Noah? Such nuances in the translation of one word determine very different concepts of God and warn us all of the danger of relying on translations, which even at their best can never fully reflect the ambiguities of the original text.
In Memory of Her—A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
(New York: Crossroad, 1983) 351 pp., $22.50
Three disciples are prominent in the passion narrative of the Gospel of Mark: Judas, who betrayed Jesus; Peter, who denied him; and the unnamed woman who anointed Jesus.
Of the woman Jesus said: “And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Jesus’ words have not been fulfilled. Christians have remembered Judas, they have remembered the woman. Not only this woman, but, in fact, nearly all early Christian women active in the founding of churches and in the spread of Christianity have fallen into oblivion: the women who financially supported the Jesus movement (Luke 8:1–3), the teacher and missionary Prisca (Acts 18:2–3, 18–19, 24–26; Romans 16:3–4; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19), the apostle Junia (Romans 16:7), the women in whose houses house-churches met (e.g., Colossians 4:15) … and on and on. In Memory of Her by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza tries to demonstrate that methods are available to recover this forgotten history.
Schüssler Fiorenza’s book represents a major advance, taking us far beyond most previous work on women in the New Testament. She does not follow the “great women of the Bible” approach. Neither is this a topical study of selected New Testament texts on women; that would leave the male-centered (androcentric) framework of New Testament studies intact and permit the marginalization of early Christian women to continue. This book is a feminist reconstruction of the whole of early Christianity. By looking at women in the center of the early Christian movement, we dramatically alter our entire picture of this movement. That is what this book attempts to demonstrate.
Schussler Fiorenza’s book focuses on women, rather than on male attitudes towards women. This distinguishes her study, for example, from the many articles and books whose main purpose is to rescue Paul from his feminist detractors.
The author uses androcentric texts to reconstruct the historical reality of the early church. Just because New Testament writings present men at the center of reality does not mean that they were actually there, Schüssler Fiorenza argues. For example, while scholars have argued that “sons” and “brothers” are, of course, terms meant to include women, at the same time they have assumed that leadership 010titles like “apostles,” “prophets” and “teachers” refer only to men (p. 45). In this way translators and commentators have often marginalized women even more than the text itself.
Schüssler Fiorenza searches the androcentric texts for hints of another reality. This does not mean that she simply culls out a feminist essence or extracts some abstract principles. Rather, she attempts to locate the historical struggle of women within its social context. For example, she discusses the commands that women be subordinate to their husbands (e.g., Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:22–24) in the context of the ancient slave-owning household.
Schüssler Fiorenza notes that texts that seemingly command the subordination of women, children and slaves are not simple reflections of reality. We do not know the extent to which these commands were obeyed.
The author traces the history of women in early Christianity from its origins in the female disciples of Jesus and the earliest female missionaries to the struggles concerning female subordination within marriage and the increasing male dominance in church leadership. She writes this history in order to provide a source of strength for Christian women today. The book ends with a call for an
This book is Provocative and calls for thorough discussion. Issues of method should be at the heart of this discussion. A central thesis of this book is that there was a “discipleship of equals” in the early church. Schüssler Fiorenza uses this thesis to explain why early Christianity was attractive to women. But how can one test whether a religious movement was truly a discipleship of equals and whether this attracted converts? Consider the evidence from the contemporaneous religion of Isis, which originated in Egypt but spread through-out the Roman world in the early centuries of the Common Era. Isis texts tell us, “You have made the power of women equal to that of men” (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 11. 1380). And again: “I compelled women to be loved by men” (Cyme-Memphis aretalogy). Compare this with the statement in Colossians 3:18–19: “Wives, be subordinate. to your husbands … husbands, love Your Wives …” The Cymememphis aretalogy states that veneration of Isis was especially attractive to women: “I am she that is called Goddess by women.” On evidence such as this could the Isis religion qualify as a discipleship of equals? Would it too attract female converts—perhaps even more effectively than Christianity. The historical evidence indicates that Judaism, like Christianity, attracted many female converts in this period, and that women were leaders in some synagogues. While some first-century women converted to Christianity, most did not. Their failure to do so cannot be explained by a lack of exposure to Christianity. Schüssler Fiorenza does not claim that early Christianity was the only discipleship of equals in antiquity. But if Judaism and other religions of the time were also attractive to women, how can we decide what constitutes a religion based on equality?
Assuming a discipleship of equals in early Christianity, Schüssler Fiorenza then describes how a process of patriarchalization occurred. Perhaps, however, there was ambivalence at every stage. We must ask what the role of the twelve male disciples was during Jesus’ lifetime. We must recognize that Jesus’ strict prohibition of divorce (Matthew 5:32; strict prohibition of divorce (Matthew 5:32; 19:3–12, Mark 10:2–12, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 7:11–12) not only protected women from arbitrary dismissal by their husbands, but also forced women to remain under male control. In this relationship, women were not only controlled by their husbands, they were often subjected to violence. Patriarchal marriage continued under Jesus’ followers. By contrast, in some Jewish circles, women had the right to initiate divorce and thus enjoyed a freedom that Christian women who followed Jesus’ prohibition did not. The picture is a complex one.
Another example of ambivalence is that Paul condemned a woman’s sexual expression of love for another woman (Romans 1:26). I believe that this prohibition is based on a hierarchical view of the sexes (compare 1 Corinthians 11:2: “head of woman is the man”). The Pauline prohibition of sexual love relations between women has led to persecution of and discrimination against lesbians during the course of Christian history. It has also meant that Christian women have had to choose between celibacy and hierarchically based marriage.
The central methodological question is whether elements like these represent aspects of male dominance within a “discipleship of equals,” or whether there was never really any period in Christianity when women enjoyed full equality with men.
This book will provide biblical scholars, theologians and feminists working in other areas with much to discuss and with theories to test for years to come.
In the Beginning: A New English Rendition of the Book of Genesis
Translated with Commentary and Notes by Notes by Everett Fox
(New York: Schocken Books, 1983) 248 pp., $14.95
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