The Legends of Genesis: the Biblical Saga and History - Softcover

Gunkel, Hermann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1503235599 ISBN 13: 9781503235595

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

This looks at the Biblical book of Genesis. From the intro: "ARE the narratives of Genesis history or legend? For the modern historian this is no longer an open question; nevertheless it is important to get a clear notion of the bases of this modern position. The writing of history is not an innate endowment of the human mind; it arose in the course of human history and at a definite stage of development. Uncivilised races do not write history; they are incapable of reproducing their experiences objectively, and have no interest in leaving to posterity an authentic account of the events of their times. Experiences fade before they are fairly cold, and fact and fancy mingle; only in poetical form, in song and saga, are unlettered tribes able to report historical occurrences. Only at a certain stage of civilisation has objectivity so grown and the interest in transmitting national experiences to posterity so increased that the writing of history becomes possible. Such history has for its subjects great public events, the deeds of popular leaders and kings, and especially wars. Accordingly some sort of political organisation is an antecedent presumption to the writing of history. Only in a later, in the main a much later, time is the art of writing history, learned through the practice of writing national histories, applied to other spheres of human life, whence we have memoirs and the histories of families. But considerable sections of the people have never risen to the appreciation of history proper, and have remained in the stage of the saga, or in what in modern times is analogous to saga. Thus we find among the civilised peoples of antiquity two distinct kinds of historical records side by side: history proper and popular tradition, the latter treating in naive poetical fashion partly the same subjects as the former, and partly the events of older, prehistoric times. And it is not to be forgotten that historical memories may be preserved even in such traditions, although clothed in poetic garb."

About this title

About the Author:

About the Author:

"Gunkel was born in Springe, Germany (near Hannover, Lower Saxony), where his father was a Lutheran pastor. He studied theology in Goettingen and Hanover, and in 1895 became a professor of Old Testament in Berlin. In the same year his book Schpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit (Creation and Chaos) was published. In 1901 the first edition of his Genesis commentary appeared. In 1926 he published another standard work, his commentary on the book of Psalms (Die Psalmen).

For health reasons Gunkel retired and became professor emeritus in 1927. His Einleitung in die Psalmen (Introduction to the Psalms) was his last major project, brought to completion with the help of Joachim Begrich, who was both his former student and his son-in-law.

Hermann Gunkel died on 11 March 1932 in Halle." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1503235599
• ISBN 13: 9781503235595
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 70