The Bible and the Domestication of the World
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by David M. Carr in
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Abstract
Written in an agricultural context oriented around life and work with domesticated animals, the Bible’s texts, from Genesis 1 onward, endorse a picture of human destiny to farm the land and dominate other living beings. In doing so, the Bible contrasts with the cosmologies of low-domesticating indigenous cultures in privileging domesticating and domestication-like modes of relationship between sentient beings. This is not limited to the Bible’s picture of inter-species human relationships. Rather the paradigm of human domination of other beings is analogous to domestication-like relationships between genders, ethnicities and others that are naturalized in subsequent Biblical and post-Biblical texts. We even see a reflection of domesticating assumptions in the picture, across both Testaments of the Christian Bible, of God as a domesticator-like figure and God’s people as a flock that God protects and requires obedience and sacrifice from.
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The Bible and the Domestication of the World
In: Biblical InterpretationSearch for other papers by David M. Carr in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Written in an agricultural context oriented around life and work with domesticated animals, the Bible’s texts, from Genesis 1 onward, endorse a picture of human destiny to farm the land and dominate other living beings. In doing so, the Bible contrasts with the cosmologies of low-domesticating indigenous cultures in privileging domesticating and domestication-like modes of relationship between sentient beings. This is not limited to the Bible’s picture of inter-species human relationships. Rather the paradigm of human domination of other beings is analogous to domestication-like relationships between genders, ethnicities and others that are naturalized in subsequent Biblical and post-Biblical texts. We even see a reflection of domesticating assumptions in the picture, across both Testaments of the Christian Bible, of God as a domesticator-like figure and God’s people as a flock that God protects and requires obedience and sacrifice from.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 755 | 198 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 91 | 21 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 246 | 51 | 0 |
