Resisting the myth of redemptive violence
15/02/16 05:30
Walter Wink is Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He has written several books and is often published in theological journals. In an article for the Bible Society of the United Kingdom, he re-tells one of the oldest myths in the world, the Babylonian creation story called the “Enuma Elish.” The story dates from around 1250 BCE. In that myth, a mother god and a father god give birth to the rest of the gods. A dispute arises between the elder and younger gods and Tiamat, the mother god, plots the death of the younger generation. The younger gods uncover the plot before it is carried out. Marduk, the youngest god agrees to save them in exchange for being named the chief of all of the gods. They agree, Marduk catches Tiamat in a net and murders her. The myth contains a great deal of bloody detail about how she is murdered and how the bloody corpse is spread out. The body is formed into the cosmos. There are a lot more details that I am not reporting here. In the myth all of creation is an act of violence. The story was one of the dominant creation myths of the ancient near east.
Meanwhile, our ancestors in faith we on a journey in search for a homeland. The journey led them into Egypt and slavery from which they were freed under the leadership of Moses. Along the way they were developing a strong monotheistic theology: There is only one God, creator of all that is. The most ancient stories of our people tell of our beginnings in the journey of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Perhaps the oldest version of a creation story in our Bible is in the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy. It is given as a memory prayer to be said when making an offering:
‘“A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” —Deuteronomy 10:5b-9
Much later, after the time of the rise of the united monarchy and the subsequent divisions in the leadership of Israel, Babylon launched a conquest of Judah in 598 BCE, resulting in the forced detention of Jews in Babylonia until 538 BCE when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and gave the Jews permission to return to Palestine. It was during that time of captivity that our people encountered the Enuma Elish and learned the Babylonian story of creation. This crisis in the lives of our people gave rise to the need to have a written story of creation that told an alternate story: the story of one God who is the God of all creation. The story of creation that was taught to Jewish children and which preserved our faith through the time of exile is now the beginning of our Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1 is our people’s answer to the Babylonian creation myth.
Our story tells of God who is good and who forms a good creation. Chaos does not resist order. Good is prior to evil. Violence and evil are not essential parts of creation. They occur later and enter the world as a result of human sin. Our story - the one with which we stick to this day - is that violence is not a product of God, an essential part of creation, but rather a problem that requires a solution.
This is an important distinction. In the Babylonian myth, violence is not a problem. It is an accepted fact. The Babylonian myth is very simple. Ours is much more complex and nuanced. The Babylonian myth was easy to tell and spread as far as Syria, Phonecia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Germany, Ireland, India and China. In the various versions there is usually a male god fighting a decisive battle with a female god, sometimes depicted as a monster or dragon and the cosmos is the result of the battle.
It makes a very big difference which story you embrace. Our ancestors knew this when they lived in exile in Babylon so long ago.
The Babylonian myth asserts that human beings are created from the blood of a murdered god. Our very origin is violence. Killing is in our genes. Humans are not the originators of evil. They find evil already present and continue the divine ways.
Our story asserts a completely different perspective. God is good. There is one god. Creation is good. We are the product of that good creation. We ourselves have been pronounced good by God. As such, violence is to be resisted and overcome. Good will triumph over evil in the big picture.
Unfortunately the Babylonian myth persists in modern society. People, even those who claim to be Christian, hang on to the myth of redemptive violence. They believe that violence and only violence can solve the problem of suffering. They remain convinced that the way to solve the problems of the world is to take up arms and engage in violence. This version of the world has its roots in the Babylonian creation myth.
Once again, as has been the truth in every generation, we need to assert an alternative story. Ours is a story that good triumphs over evil, that forgiveness is possible, that reconciliation is worth every effort it takes. Our belief forms the basis of social contracts and democracy.
We reject the notion that might makes right, that violence is inevitable, that the response to violence must always be violence.
The old stories, however, persist. I hear traces of the Babylonian myth in the speeches of politicians.
Teaching our story is as critical today as it was during the exile.
Meanwhile, our ancestors in faith we on a journey in search for a homeland. The journey led them into Egypt and slavery from which they were freed under the leadership of Moses. Along the way they were developing a strong monotheistic theology: There is only one God, creator of all that is. The most ancient stories of our people tell of our beginnings in the journey of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Perhaps the oldest version of a creation story in our Bible is in the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy. It is given as a memory prayer to be said when making an offering:
‘“A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” —Deuteronomy 10:5b-9
Much later, after the time of the rise of the united monarchy and the subsequent divisions in the leadership of Israel, Babylon launched a conquest of Judah in 598 BCE, resulting in the forced detention of Jews in Babylonia until 538 BCE when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and gave the Jews permission to return to Palestine. It was during that time of captivity that our people encountered the Enuma Elish and learned the Babylonian story of creation. This crisis in the lives of our people gave rise to the need to have a written story of creation that told an alternate story: the story of one God who is the God of all creation. The story of creation that was taught to Jewish children and which preserved our faith through the time of exile is now the beginning of our Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1 is our people’s answer to the Babylonian creation myth.
Our story tells of God who is good and who forms a good creation. Chaos does not resist order. Good is prior to evil. Violence and evil are not essential parts of creation. They occur later and enter the world as a result of human sin. Our story - the one with which we stick to this day - is that violence is not a product of God, an essential part of creation, but rather a problem that requires a solution.
This is an important distinction. In the Babylonian myth, violence is not a problem. It is an accepted fact. The Babylonian myth is very simple. Ours is much more complex and nuanced. The Babylonian myth was easy to tell and spread as far as Syria, Phonecia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Germany, Ireland, India and China. In the various versions there is usually a male god fighting a decisive battle with a female god, sometimes depicted as a monster or dragon and the cosmos is the result of the battle.
It makes a very big difference which story you embrace. Our ancestors knew this when they lived in exile in Babylon so long ago.
The Babylonian myth asserts that human beings are created from the blood of a murdered god. Our very origin is violence. Killing is in our genes. Humans are not the originators of evil. They find evil already present and continue the divine ways.
Our story asserts a completely different perspective. God is good. There is one god. Creation is good. We are the product of that good creation. We ourselves have been pronounced good by God. As such, violence is to be resisted and overcome. Good will triumph over evil in the big picture.
Unfortunately the Babylonian myth persists in modern society. People, even those who claim to be Christian, hang on to the myth of redemptive violence. They believe that violence and only violence can solve the problem of suffering. They remain convinced that the way to solve the problems of the world is to take up arms and engage in violence. This version of the world has its roots in the Babylonian creation myth.
Once again, as has been the truth in every generation, we need to assert an alternative story. Ours is a story that good triumphs over evil, that forgiveness is possible, that reconciliation is worth every effort it takes. Our belief forms the basis of social contracts and democracy.
We reject the notion that might makes right, that violence is inevitable, that the response to violence must always be violence.
The old stories, however, persist. I hear traces of the Babylonian myth in the speeches of politicians.
Teaching our story is as critical today as it was during the exile.