Uproar by Peter L. Steinke

Uproar by Peter L. Steinke

Author:Peter L. Steinke [Steinke, Peter L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-11-07T16:00:00+00:00


Borders, Lines, and Edges

I find the belligerence with which creationists and evolutionary theorists debate the biblical creation story a waste of energy. I don’t think the Hebrew writer of Genesis, or the readers, were drawn into the questions of creation’s “how” and “how long.” The Hebrews were more interested, it seems to me, in relationships that eventually culminated in the Covenant. The creation text itself is contained in the Old Covenant, and its great moral code, the Ten Commandments, addresses the connection between the divine and the human, and relationships between one another. In fact, the ensuing biblical stories center around the tension between two brothers; family squabbles; welcoming the stranger; the Jewish idea of distributive justice; being sensitive to the plight of the marginal, especially orphans and widows who had no social standing; multiple stories about the violation of personal boundaries; and seeking shalom (the full flourishing of life) for all. Simply put, relationships count. That’s the central narrative.

The key to it all, surprisingly, is the text of Genesis 1:2: “The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the earth.” It was an undifferentiated mess (or, to use Bowen’s phrase, an “undifferentiated mass”), a maelstrom of universal proportion. The great fear was a relapse to the primal condition, a return to boundaryless chaos. The separation of the day from the night, the earth from the sky, and the land from the sea signaled the need for boundaries to ensure a relatively stable form of life.

Also, Adam was assigned to language arts class. Name it all! There had to be definitions. Literary critic Roland Barthes says the “founding function of differences . . . is the basis of language.” Words provide distinctions, specificity. Without borders, there would be a gross “stuck-togetherness,” nothing to hit against, no moving against the tide, no self/other dimension, no ordering function, no integrity, and a paralyzing sameness. Always, the latent threat of “a formless void” would linger.

Boundaries offer identification, protection, and connection. Writing about human nature, Theodore Schwenk says, “Boundaries are the birthplace of living things.” Membranes encapsulate. “When the earth came alive,” Lewis Thomas claims, “it began constructing its own membrane, for the purpose of editing out the sun.” It is the membrane around a cell in biology, the skin of a raindrop, and the image of a separate self that provide identity and differentiation. Clouds have no membrane and, unstable, drift into other forms or dissipate into fog. Clouds develop types (cumulus, cirrus, and stratus) but not identifiable forms.



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