Friendship by Victor Lee Austin

Author:Victor Lee Austin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pastoral Theology/Christian Living;Friendship—Religious aspects—Christianity;Theological anthropology—Christianity;Pastoral theology;REL074000;REL012000;REL067000
ISBN: 9781493421565
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

The Fall from Friendship

Let us turn from Aelred for a moment to consider his claim of aboriginal human equality, for there is wisdom buried in Genesis 2 and 3, wisdom waiting for a careful reader but easy to pass by.

First, we should note the rather strong claim that the “good and evil” of the forbidden tree can indicate knowledge of a political character, and in particular, the wisdom that a ruler needs to have. Following the principle of allowing the Bible to interpret itself, we will find the same Hebrew words used in Solomon’s prayer asking God for what he needs to be a good king: “an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” (1 Kings 3:9). The knowledge of “good and bad” (elsewhere translated as the knowledge of “good and evil”) is here explicitly linked with the discernments, the judgments, that a ruler must make. It is the knowledge that a king needs to have.14

This insight can then illuminate the overall trajectory of Genesis 2. The human enters the scene as a lowly creature whose job is to bring the seeds that are in the earth to fruition (v. 5). But it seems he is discovered to have more dignity than that, and so a garden is made for him (v. 8). Then, just as God is about to bring to awareness that it is not good for him to be alone, God tells him not to eat of the tree of political knowledge (vv. 17–18). God does not want him to know about ruling. To be innocent of knowledge of ruling seems to be necessary for God to create an equal for him, a fitting “help-meet”: God does not want there to be rule or governance (with its resulting inequalities) between the human and his companion. Only with this prohibition in place does God make the animals. Presumably, one of them might have been found to be the human’s equal companion, but in the event, none of them was fitting (vv. 19–20). Finally, God causes “a deep sleep to fall upon” the human, and from his side the woman is taken (vv. 21–22), in the implicit equality of friendship that Aelred celebrates.

It follows that their subsequent eating from the forbidden tree is the eruption of the world of politics into their existence. This is a world of superiors and inferiors, a world of command and obedience. This world of power dynamics is what underlies God’s pronouncements of the consequences of their acquisition of this sort of knowledge. There is “enmity” between one creature, at least, and the humans (Gen. 3:15). There is “sorrow” in childbearing (we will suggest this includes a self-awareness of mortality); there is “desire” for the husband, who “shall rule” over his wife (v. 16). And to complete the circle, the man, expelled from the garden, is returned to his initial humble place as one whose job is to bring seeds to fruition, now with his own “sorrow” at the time of eating—“in sorrow shalt thou eat of [the ground] all the days of thy life” (v.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.