RBL 05/2017 Othmar Keel and Silvia Schroer. Translated by Peter T. Daniels. Jeffrey L. Morrow Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey

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1 RBL 05/2017 Othmar Keel and Silvia Schroer Creation: Biblical Theologies in the Context of the Ancient Near East Translated by Peter T. Daniels Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, Pp. x Hardcover. $ ISBN Jeffrey L. Morrow Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey Creation: Biblical Theologies in the Context of the Ancient Near East is the English translation of the second edition of Othmar Keel and Silvia Schroer s 2008 Schöpfung: Biblische Theologien im Kontext altorientalischer Religionen, originally published in The basic thrust of the volume as a whole represents a particular theological view, namely, the forgotten divinity of creation (xi). In general terms, Keel and Schroer argue that the ancient Near Eastern world evidenced an earlier belief in the divinity of the world, of creation, and that the biblical accounts retain vestigial evidence of this as well. In their new preface, they lament misunderstandings they perceived in reviews of their initial work in German, chalking it up to how their view does not fit into the traditional model of monotheism in which God and the world are diametrically opposed to each other, a model, they note, that prevails in Protestant more than Catholic circles (xi). The volume begins with a brief foreword (ix x), followed by a preface to the English translation (xi xii). In the Introduction: The Primacy of Exodus Theology over Creation Theology? (1 3), Keel and Schroer introduce one fundamental theme that their volume will tackle, their challenge to the priority given in scholarship to the memory of the Exodus over creation (2). They would rather take seriously the creation traditions of the First Testament as foundational witnesses to belief in the YHWH religion (2).

2 Throughout the volume they attempt to draw practical conclusions from their theological perspectives, grounded in their historical understandings of the views of ancient Israel in the formative context of the ancient Near Eastern cultures. Many of these practical implications are ecological, pertaining to the environment, and our role in protecting the environment. Chapter 1, The Status of Creation Traditions in Several Twentieth-Century Currents of Christian Theology (4 15), surveys the history of theological scholarship on the creation traditions in what the authors call the First Testament. 1 Much of this early history is bound up with the initial nineteenth-century scholarly engagements with ancient Near Eastern literature, for example, the work of Hermann Gunkel ( ) and Friedrich Delitzsch ( ). 2 Keel and Schroer show themselves aware of the excesses of trends in scholarship such as pan-babylonianism (6) and of anti-judaism present in scholarship (7 8). At times, however, they appear to misunderstand the history of matters pertaining to the Catholic Magisterium, or the history of its involvement with Scripture, as when in this initial chapter they seem to imply that Pope Pius XII s 1943 papal encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu was the first time Catholic exegetes were permitted to interpret the Bible within the framework of their cultural contexts (11). 3 Fifty years earlier Pope Leo XIII had encouraged Catholic exegetes to study Oriental languages and the art of criticism and had underscored how in historical questions the witness of history is of primary importance, and that historical investigation should be made with the utmost care, in his 1893 papal encyclical Providentissimus Deus. 4 They conclude this initial 1. By First Testament, the authors mean the books referred to as the Hebrew Bible or, more traditionally under Christian influence, the Old Testament. They include discussion, however, of deuterocanonical books such as Wisdom Ben Sira (Sirach), included, e.g., in Catholic as well as Eastern and Oriental Orthodox canons. Since First Testament is the phrase the authors use, I will utilize it as well in this review. 2. Just prior to this they have terse but accurate histories of the rise of historical criticism from Spinoza ( ) and Richard Simon ( ) to Julius Wellhausen ( ) as well as the modern study of ancient Near Eastern studies from the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone to the work of Georg Grotefend ( ), Edward Hincks ( ), and Henry Rawlinson ( ) in deciphering cuneiform and Akkadian in particular. 3. It is true, as they imply, that anti Modernist measures, especially from , caused fear of sanctions from the church bureaucracy for those engaging in modern source and form criticism (11). But their terse narration of events is overly simplistic. 4. No. 17; see the Vatican website: Although Providentissimus Deus includes many cautions about such modern methods of biblical criticism, Pius XII s Divino Afflante Spiritu likewise contains cautions (e.g., nos. 1, 3 4, and 24) that are too often overlooked by scholars in recounting the history. On the other hand, many of the cautions in Leo s encyclical explicitly deal with what he perceived as scholarly judgment concerning the history of the text from internal indications alone (no. 17), not from attention to the historical and cultural context made available from the study of the ancient Near East.

3 chapter with brief discussions of liberation theology and ecofeminism, among other contextual theologies (11 15). The second chapter, Contemporary Challenges for a Christian Creation Theology (16 21), emphasizes the importance of continued dialogue of science and theology (19). One practical insight from this chapter is how the exploitative hold on the natural resources of our living world goes hand in hand with a disregard for the Sabbath commandment that is regularly gaining more ground (20). The third chapter, Traces of a Numinous Approach to the Environment in the Hebrew Bible (22 69), begins to get at their underlying point about the divinity of creation, which they refer to throughout as numinous. Although they nowhere mention the work of Rudolf Otto ( ), the influence of his discussion of the numinous and of the mysterium tremendum (fearful mystery) from his 1917 Das Heilige (translated into English as The Idea of the Holy), is evident throughout this volume. Such influence is apparent not only in their frequent Otto-like discussion of the numinous but also in their use of tremendum in this context, as when they speak of the tremendum of the holy (55). Chapter 4, Creation and Blessing (70 76), focuses on the notion of divine benediction as it pertains to creation. The fifth chapter, Ideas of the Origin of the World (77 107), takes a look at the various ways in which ancient Near Eastern cultures approached the issue of the creation of the world, including agents, connections with fertility, the Chaoskampf themes, and so on. The sixth chapter, The World as Manifestation of Divine Activity (108 52), examines a number of related themes, including especially the role of humanity in creation texts, as well as the divine role of sustaining creation. Chapter 7, The Destruction of Creation as a Result of Human Failure (153 58), looks at flood traditions and their relation to creation accounts, while chapter 8, The Threatening World as the Work of God in God s Speeches (Job 38 41) (159 70), explores Job in light of ancient Near Eastern notions of the world as threatening and God s role in the threatening world. The ninth chapter, The Question of Origins in the Ionian Natural Philosophers (171 75), discusses ancient Greek notions of creation, focusing on the philosophers Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus. The tenth chapter, The Wisdom Immanent in the World as the Prime Beginning in the First Testament ( ), looks at the role of wisdom at the dawn of creation in the First Testament, particularly in Job, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, with an emphasis on erotic wisdom. The eleventh chapter, The Theologization of Wisdom, a Post-critical Naivete (Modesty), and the Desire for Eternity (183 91), walks through Sirach, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, Job, and Proverbs to look at wisdom in light of creation and salvation. The volume concludes with an epilogue (192 93), helpful selection of nonbiblical texts ( ), and a bibliography (209 35).

4 One of the greatest strengths of this volume is its numerous images. The 169 drawings in the volume reproduce a wide variety of visual material that has been unearthed from the ancient Near East. These images come from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Canaan. They were originally from cylinder seals, papyri, scarabs, temple reliefs, stelae, figurines, breastpieces, statuettes, seal amulets, seal impressions, stamps, coins, coffin reliefs, boundary stones, terracotta reliefs, ceiling paintings, situlae, monumental reliefs, painted vases, relief plaques, and so on. These many images provide important background for the material the authors discuss. For example, when they discuss the ancient Near Eastern notion of a cosmic tree, they are able to provide numerous images of cosmic tree-like structures from seals and other ancient Near Eastern depictions that have been uncovered from archaeology. The same is true of the dragon or serpent-like creatures depicted on imagery associated with creation, in their discussion of Chaoskampf theories. Another strength of this book is the inclusion of text excerpts from ancient Near Eastern literature outside of the Bible. They include twelve excerpts coming from the Sumerian Epic of Enki and Ninmah, the Akkadian Atrahasis Epic, as well as the Akkadian text KAR 4, the Enuma Elish, the Sumerian Childbirth Incantation, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Egyptian Instruction of Merikare, the Hymn to Amun-Ra, the Great Aton Hymn, the Monument of the Memphite Theology, and the Lugal Myth. Many places in the text are replete with helpful insights. These include their discussion on the role of the cosmic tree and its ubiquity in the ancient Near East (43 45), as well as their discussion of the connection between temple and creation, wherein creation is depicted as a macro-temple and the temple a microcosm (67). Moreover, they help put to death a long-held myth prevalent in so many textbooks: People in the ancient Near East did not conceive of the earth as a disk floating on water with the firmament inverted over it like a bell jar, with the stars hanging from it. They knew from observation and experience with handicrafts that the lifting capacity of water is limited and that gigantic vaults generate gigantic problems in terms of their ability to carry dead weight. The textbook images that keep being reprinted of the ancient Near Eastern world picture are based on typical modern misunderstandings that fail to take into account the religious components of ancient Near Eastern conceptions and representations. (78) Their discussion of Chaoskampf and the ubiquity of serpent/dragon motifs closely connected with creation (97 106) is very helpful but would have been improved by a consideration of the work of David Toshio Tsumura and Richard Averbeck. Specifically, Averbeck and Tsumura s work has shown the difficulties involved in positing the Chaoskampf theory with Gen 1; in particular the overly facile connection between Hebrew tehom with Akkadian Tiamat (106 n. 36) is fairly thin, Tiamat more likely being the

5 personification of the deep, root thm in Semitic languages. 5 Averbeck s work has also shown how these texts, however, might apply better to the account of the fall in Gen 3. 6 Despite these comments, this volume will certainly be of interest to scholars concerned with biblical creation texts in light of their broader ancient Near Eastern context. 5. Richard E. Averbeck, The Three Daughters of Ba al and Transformations of Chaoskampf in the Early Chapters of Genesis, in Creation and Chaos: A Reconsideration of Hermann Gunkel s Chaoskampf Hypothesis, ed. JoAnn Scurlock and Richard H. Beal (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013), ; and David Tsumura, Creation and Destruction: A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2005). 6. Richard E. Averbeck, Ancient Near Eastern Mythography as It Relates to Historiography in the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 3 and the Cosmic Battle, in The Future of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions, ed. James K. Hoffmeier and Alan R. Millard (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004),