Genesis (Day Two: Chapters 4, 6-9)

Please answer three questions in all - two from Cain and Abel and the one from Noah.

CAIN AND ABEL: In a relatively short narrative, we have this myth concerning the first family after Eden - we have (1) the relationship between parents, children and siblings, (2) very distinct human passions related to this society – wounded pride, anger, jealousy, fear, dread; (3) violent death, crime and punishment, justice; (4) the beginning of agriculture and settlements, the arts and the city; (5) the first attempt at religion (sacrifices, relationship between humans and something greater than they are).

1. How do you see two or more of these themes working together within the story?

2. The myth seems to set up Abel as innocent (he is unable to defend himself and yet left unprotected by God). What might the story say about justice? How might the story be a kind of 'set-up' against Cain from the beginning (from his point of view)?

3. Analyze the conversation between God and Cain. What do you make of the phrases "Am I my brother's keeper?" and "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil"? (Remember - Cain is a farmer - linked to the soil).

4. What do you make of the mark of Cain? Is this an ambiguous mark? Is it unsettling to have the divine as someone / something that protects a murderer?

5. Why do you think that civilization (the city, music, the arts, culture, etc.) rises from the family of a murderer? What might this imply about the nature of civilization?

NOAH: Whereas in chapters 1-2 we saw a deity who created, with this story we see one who calls for (near) total destruction of that creation. What are some themes that you find within this story that can help us with our continuing understanding of the text. What do you find problematic about this text that you find warrants further analysis / discussion?

Genesis (Day One: Chapters 1-3)

Please answer at least three questions (or come up with your own topics of discussion). Remember, your answers should represent a short and cohesive critical analysis of the reading.

1. The opening verses of Genesis are extremely important. In what way can they be viewed as simultaneously concrete and ambiguous? Why does the text present itself as such? (For instance, how are we to define terms such as "God," "beginning," etc?). Or - a separate yet related question, how might this creation myth differ from other creation myths or myths about a deity / the deities you may know? Why?

2. What type of god do we have in the first creation myth of Genesis (Chapter 1)? Why do you think the text presents this deity as such? Pay close attention to the way in which creation is ordered and how this creation comes into being. (For instance, the creation of the humans in the deity's "image and likeness." What might this mean?)

3. Chapter 2 gives us a completely different yet related creation myth. Why do you think Genesis contains two myths of creation? How are they similar and different (for instance, in the first story, man and woman are created simultaneously, in the second, woman comes after man)? How do you account for these differences? How do they complicate (in a positive way) our reading of the text?

4. How does the text present this first man and this first woman? Do a "character study" of them.

5. What do you make of the Tree of Knowledge? Why is knowledge (especially that of "good and evil") forbidden to the point of death? What do you make of the fact that the tree is "lovely to look at"? Might there be a link between vision, desire and knowledge?

6. Might there be an unavoidable "positive spin" to Adam and Eve's "punishment"? (I think there is - or to ask it another way, why is this punishment inevitable. What if they had stayed within Eden eternally? Would this life have reflected the human experience?)

Mediterranean Music at Trinity

FYI:

I wanted to spread the word about what looks like an amazing concert this coming Monday, organized by Hillel, in case you're not aware of it already. The Rose Ensemble—"12 artists, 25 languages, 1000 years of music"—will be on a national tour and will perform a program entitled "Voices of Ancient Mediterranean Jews, Christians, and Muslims" at Trinity. The program consists of Arab-Andalusian dances, Sephardic laments, Spanish villancicos, Hebrew chants and Galician spiritual cantigas, and features vocal and instrumental pieces heard in the chapels, synagogues, and courts of early Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

In case you are interested, their website is:

http://www.roseensemble.org/

The concert will take place on Monday January 30, 2012, at 7:30 in Hamlin Hall. It is open to the public so you should bring anyone with an interest in music or in the middle ages and the Mediterranean.