Re: [asa] Nakedness and the Fall of Man

FYI, Henri Blocher has some interesting ideas in his book "In the
Beginning" regarding Gen 1:27 and relationship. He sees the "male
and female" in this verse as implying sexual union, and sees this as
an analogy to the close relationship between the members of the
Godhead. He concludes that part of being in God's image is being in
relationship, just as the members of the Godhead are in relationship
with one another.

Kirk

On Feb 24, 2009, at 10:31 PM, philtill@aol.com wrote:

> 7. This interpretation helps to make sense of the rest of the
> story. Why did the author think it was important to have Adam name
> animals and Eve be made subsequent to Adam? Surely there are
> multiple reasons, but one reason that I think unifies the main
> themes of the text is that it is about human inadequacy and the
> need for relationships. Man is inadequate and so he is told to
> find a helper, and so he examines and names the animals but finds
> no helper. Animals are incapable of answering man's inadequacy.
> God then provides for man's inadeqacy by making him a helper. To
> be adequate in this world, man and woman need each other.
> Relationship solves inadequacy. But the author finds it important
> to say in the very next sentence that both man and woman are naked
> -- so the sexes "complete" one another in an important sense, but
> we do not "clothe" one another in the (symbolic) sense that we need
> relationship with God, too. Th e chapter is all about the
> relationships we need to be adequate.

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Received on Thu Feb 26 10:57:19 2009