Correcting Genesis
From Stefan Themersons novel Special Branch:
"- Genesis. The thing astronaut Borman broadcast from his lunar space-ship. It surprises me when I see so much ignorance of what Genesis is. I consider it as the first honest attempt to create a scientific theory of the Universe. I know, it starts by proposing ignotum per ignotius [an explanation that is obscurer than the thing to be explained, literally: the unknown by means of the more unknown]. Well, so what. That can be easily corrected.
- How? I asked.
- Well, he said, when I'm reading it, I always replace the words 'God created' by the words 'man discerned.'
- Good Lord! I said."
So the way the detective reads would be (I used the New International Version of the Bible, and the copy-pasting process of replacing 'God created' with 'man discerned' surely had a blasphemous feeling to it):
"Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning Man discerned the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of Man was hovering over the waters.
3 And Man said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 Man saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 Man called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And Man said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So Man made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 Man called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And Man said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 Man called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And Man saw that it was good.
11 Then Man said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And Man saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And Man said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 Man made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 Man set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And Man saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And Man said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So Man discerned the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Man saw that it was good. 22 Man blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And Man said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 Man made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And Man saw that it was good.
26 Then Man said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So Man discerned man in his own image,
in the image of Man he discerned him;
male and female he discerned them.
28 Man blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then Man said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 Man saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
If this sounds like it makes sense nowadays, it is because today is a product of our times.
"- Genesis. The thing astronaut Borman broadcast from his lunar space-ship. It surprises me when I see so much ignorance of what Genesis is. I consider it as the first honest attempt to create a scientific theory of the Universe. I know, it starts by proposing ignotum per ignotius [an explanation that is obscurer than the thing to be explained, literally: the unknown by means of the more unknown]. Well, so what. That can be easily corrected.
- How? I asked.
- Well, he said, when I'm reading it, I always replace the words 'God created' by the words 'man discerned.'
- Good Lord! I said."
So the way the detective reads would be (I used the New International Version of the Bible, and the copy-pasting process of replacing 'God created' with 'man discerned' surely had a blasphemous feeling to it):
"Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning Man discerned the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of Man was hovering over the waters.
3 And Man said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 Man saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 Man called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And Man said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So Man made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 Man called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And Man said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 Man called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And Man saw that it was good.
11 Then Man said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And Man saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And Man said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 Man made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 Man set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And Man saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And Man said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So Man discerned the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Man saw that it was good. 22 Man blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And Man said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 Man made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And Man saw that it was good.
26 Then Man said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So Man discerned man in his own image,
in the image of Man he discerned him;
male and female he discerned them.
28 Man blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then Man said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 Man saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
If this sounds like it makes sense nowadays, it is because today is a product of our times.
posted by Adina. at 12:24 p.m.
0 Comments:
Trimiteți un comentariu
<< Home