Senior Seminar. We’re starting our tour of utopia not in Athens but in Jerusalem, with three excerpts from the Bible. First is the six-day creation account (which those of you who took Bible as Lit will recall is attributed to the rather late Priestly source); next is the story of Adam and Eve (which comes later in the Bible but is attributed to the earlier Jahwist source); last are a few snippets from the Book of Isaiah.
What if anything is utopian about these early works? (I know we haven’t finished defining utopia yet, but give this question a shot anyway.)
Wednesday, January 14
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Both of the creation accounts describe a world that can be considered utopian. The Priestly account's repetition of "and God saw that it was good" indicates that all of creation at this point is to be viewed quite positively (even though "good" isn't a particularly strong adjective), and because of the pride God takes in his creation, may be considered utopian (for what better standard of approval is there than God's?). In the Jahwist's account of creation, we are introduced to a world free of agricultural labor and death and is abundant in creative freedom (Adam can name the animals), complete, unashamed innocence (nakedness), and, most importantly, total harmony with God and nature (he walks in the garden in the cool of the day). (Ironically, complete ignorance of the knowledge of good and evil is essential to maintaining this existence, and many would argue that such a lacking would indeed not be ideal, but keep man at a much lower intellectual level than would be prefered.) This care-free existence is shattered as one simple act of defiance opens Pandora's box and releases into human existence blame, guilt, shame, fear, pain, and a separation from nature and God. From a religious perspective, the harmony with God alone may be considered utopian, and by severing that connection, man has condemned himself to a progression towards the distopia of sin and hell and permanent detachment from God's glory.
All of this, though, hinges on whether or not Adam and Eve alone constitute a "society". Since the utopia is a standard to be achieved by all of society, if Adam and Eve are only two individuals, not a society, then I suppose the Garden of Eden is more of a private, blissful state achieved in seclusion, not necessarily a utopia.
the biblical concept of paradise seems to revolve on the integral concept on the lack of toil. The fact that Adam and Eve once forced to leave the garden are forced to be subject the rigors of the agrarian society. they must now toil endless to support themselves. As the level of exertion necessary for pre-industrialized man to produce even a modest crop it seems logical that the writers of the bible would wish to dwell on the ideal of unlimited supplies of food without the innumerable amount of time need to sow and then reap the harvest. it would be a integral element of the text which is lost upon the modern interpreters of the bible as the amount of effort exerted by the average member of the first world is to open a can or press buttons on a microwave.
It is clear throughout the passages of the creation that the physical place is utterly beautiful - “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air…” It is ideal because everything is at man’s command - he rules the animals and has no hard labor to do. But quite possibly the most utopian part about it is that man is able to be in the presence of God without fear or shame. What is more ideal than being in the presence of one’s maker; what is more perfect than being able to freely converse with the one who created the earth?
Later in the passages from Isaiah, utopia is seen in the conquering of the enemies, of God laying waste to those who oppose him and rebuilding his kingdom. It is essential for a society to have laws, to have regulations for utopia to exist because without them society would be nothing more than an anarchy (could this be utopia for some people?). God clearly states, “I have nourished and brought up my children, and they have rebelled against me.” God tried to do everything he could for Israel, and yet they chose to rebel. Therefore it only makes sense to punish them. In order for the Israelites to return to the status they had once held, God had to strike them down and show them the errors of their ways. Utopia in this sense is returning man to his place - punishment out of love.
The Creation story shows Utopian attributes in several ways. The most obvious being the beauty of the garden that Adam and Eve live in. A Utopian idea of an ideal living area, is perfect. Also, the idea of having a job. God put Adam in charge of the garden of Eden and of all the animals in it.In a Utopian society, from Thomas More's view, everyone has an occupation and a purpose to living. Before Eve's encounter with the snake, Adam and Eve were unashamed of being naked. This is a Utopian idea of neither being exalted over the other in dress or ornamentation. Both were equal to each other and had no reason to be prideful over their clothing. Being humble is also talked about in Isaiah. The prideful will be brought down, and a way of being prideful is through outer ornamentation. This idea is Utopian because no one is distracted by clothing, or jewelry, they get their jobs done, and they feel equal to each other. No one is set above the others. No one should be jealous, and everyone would be happy in a Utopian society.
Snoopy
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." I would argue that that passage from the Priestly Creation Account describes a rather dystopian society. Therefore, everything that follows, every creation and idea that God has, is presented in a Utopian manner. As is evidenced when it is repeated several times and "God saw that it was good.
The Jawhist Creation Account describes a similar story, but the ideas of Utopia are more evident. Adams is given dominion over all the beasts of the land, and lives in a beautiful perfect garden, with good fruit for food, is given a wife, and both of them live peacefully, and without being ashamed of their nakedness. It seems that everything is perfect and Utopian in their society, until they eat from "The Tree of Knowledge." They are immediately ashamed of being naked, and God passes down terrible punishments to them. I would say, this passage could make the argument for a true Utopian society to exist, there must be ignorance of reality.
One thing that struck me from the book of Isaiah, were the lines, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." This seems as a description of a perfect world, where everyone is flawless, or at least seen as flawless. Though, if humans are not allowed to make mistakes, or aren't ashamed or judges for their mistake, I have a hard time imaginaing, it is a perfect, or Utopian Society.
The Creation Story is considered Utopoian in the fact that each day that goes by their life has become better than before. From the beginning of the story as soon as God took notice to what earth was consisted of he said, "let there be light; and ther was light" to to the end of the story "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, beheld, it was very good." Everything is a positive achievement in the creation of the earth. Utopian as we know it right now in the semester has been defined as a vision of an ideal society. All that is know at this point in time is what is happening at this exact moment, they don't know what is to come or what could happen. To this time of exists, I would believe this is utopian.
The Story about Adam and Eve I wouldn't believe to be entirely utopian. When Eve is tempted by the Serpent to eat from the tree, temptation which doesn't always mean a negative connotation but in this case does, shows that everything isn't so "good". Like Sarah pointed out the positive aspects within the story (i.e. creative freedom, total harmony with God and nature). I can't say tihs piece is completely utopian.
Like we talked about in class, the exerpts from the Book of Isaiah it mentioned the oracle of redemption, if the people turned to God he would give them guidance. Poetic_voice makes a very good point that it doesn't all sound soud utopian when people aren't allowed to make mistakes or if they do they are ashamed or judged for their mistakes. If somebody is feeling ashamed that is not a very "good" feeling, so one person is hurting some how. Utopian is all society having an ideal society.
Drawing on what has been discussed in class, as well as from the readings
and everyone else's responses, I can only add that the creation story does
indeed seem utopian from the standpoint that everything neccessary for
survival is handed to Adam and Eve, including complete dominion over the
animals that Adam himself names.
I would, however, have to argue that the paradise described in the story
is more along the lines of a dystopia; while superfically everything is
copascetic, and life is full of leisure, joy and free time, we can also
safely assume that the couple has pretty much reached the limits of what
they can actually do. Sometimes a little free time can "lead into
temptation", even, which might be why Eve listened to the serpent in the
story... She wasn't trying to do anything "bad" per se; maybe she was just
bored!
Anyhow, I obviously subscribe to the view that our protagonists were
actually better off afterward, with a little more challenge to keep them
occupied and opportunities for personal advancement not neccesarily
available to a citizen of a Utopian society.
Great replies so far!
I like Sarah’s comment on the irony that in the Garden of Eden, “complete ignorance of the knowledge of good and evil is essential to maintaining this [seemingly utopian] existence, and many would argue that such a lacking would indeed not be ideal, but keep man at a much lower intellectual level than would be prefered.”
And I like Anonymous’s observation that “modern interpreters of the Bible” lose something important because they don’t have earlier people’s firsthand understand of the sort of back-breaking agricultural labor to which Adam was condemned.
SHETH, your reply suggests a key difference between the utopian visions of Genesis and Isaiah. Where Genesis gives us a contrast between utopia and the loss of utopia, Isaiah contrasts utopia not to its absence but to its opposite, dystopia.
Snoopy, by reminding us that Adam had a job to do in the Garden of Eden, your reply suggests the importance of meaningful labor (i.e., non-alienating labor) to human well-being.
poetic_voice’s reply suggests an anti-utopian element to the Adam and Eve story: “this passage could make the argument [that] for a true Utopian society to exist, there must be ignorance of reality.” In other words, just as in Brave New World and WALL-E,what appears on the surface to be a utopia is purchased at so high a price (in this case, “ignorance of reality”) that it is really no utopia at all.
in_love perceptively stresses the progressive nature of the six-day creation account, in which “[e]verything is a positive achievement in the creation of the earth.” Progressivism and utopianism go hand in hand.
Say! argues that the Garden of Eden is more dystopian than utopian because its very perfection is boring and rules out any opportunity for human advancement.
All in all, an excellent start. The hive mind is working well. On to Plato and The Republic.
Post a Comment