H. Gunkel

H. Gunkel

1. New Methods for the study of OT

   • DH - focusing only on the authors of the sources
     • New emphasis: "The History of Religions School"
       • Eichhorn: the origin of the myth is important
         • pay attention to the substance and ideas of the texts
       • Gunkel: Creation and Chaos (1895)
         • the earlier history of the narrative of Gen 1
           • Darkness, water, tehom, Spirt of God
             • tracing history of tradition
               • Literary types
                 • myths, etiological n ethnological stories, etc
                 • Pre-israelite components
                 • Cycles of Legends: Combined together to form a story
                   • sagenkränze - cycle of legends
           • waters in Gen 1 point to Mesopotamia, not Palestine
             • Gen 2 - Palestine

2. 1. Primitive societies cannot write history, if they do, in poetic form, songs and legends

   • 2. history vs. Legend. The latter communicates more than the 1st
     • 3. history - write tradition; legend - oral tradition. Gen contains oral tradition.
       • 4. Legends: concerned with personal affairs
         • 5. Credible historical account require witnesses
           • 6. Legend - extraordinary events; the naiveté of ancient people
             • 7. Different world of the historical books of the OT (2 Sm.)
               • 8. Historiography: prose; Legend: Poetry
   • I. Gen: collection of Legends

3. II. Types of Legends

   • 1. two types: legends of the wolrd; legends of Israel
     • 2. Myths - about gods ; Legends - about humans
       • 3. Myths: story of gods. Explanation for things of daily life
         • 4. Legends revolve around the patriarchs. The events surrounding their lives explain everything.
           • 5. Legends older than J & E.
             • 6. "Historical Legends" and "Ethnographical Legends"
               • 7. Etiological Legends: explaining something; 'ethnological legends'; 'ethnological motifs; 'cultic legend motif; geological legends
                 • cultic legends help us to know the sacred sites of the early israelites
                 • 8. legends with many legend motifs combined (ethnographic, ethnological, etymological); Gen 16
                   • 9. these features explain the origin of legends

4. III. The Artistry of the Legends in Genesis

   • 1. The beauty of the legends
     • 2.Poetry or Prose? -- "Prose"
       • 3.legend is a comm. project from a time w/o distinction btw fiction and reality
         • 4. Examine Genesis in its oral form: a) family by the fire; b) Enuma Elish
           • 6. What basic unit is original in oral tradition?
             • 7. Scope of the account: Short accounts (oral form); Later Legends: bigger
               • 8. Accounts arranged in scenes
                 • 9. not many characters simultaneously (lack of capacitiy)
                   • 10. Isolation of Characters for emphasis
                     • 11. The portrayal of the characters: economic treatment; types; appearances
                       • 12. Character of the Heroes: Not feelings, but actions (oral formal, gestures
                         • 13. Speech as the expression of spiritual life: the only talkative character in the legends: God
                           • 14. legend is coherent within it
                             • 15. the course of actions is extremely credible.
                               • 16. legends have a purpose: instruction (full of allusions; ability to avoid intentionality.
                                 • 17. Narrator does not express feeling about the characters (no interested in univ. truths
                                   • 18. two types of narratives: short (Gn 16); big (Joseph) -- Framing accounts
                                     • attempt to form large units from diverse materials
                                     • 19. Joseph: new style of legend: emphasis in mood , feelings; later period (intelectual power)
                                       • short acc. - legend; big acc - novella
                                       • 20. the age of the style: beginning of the monarchic period

5. importante of the method

   • illuminates the origin and development of what has been transmitted
   • history and growth of the literature itself.