Let us add that up to a certain point, the second narrative of the creation of man keeps the form of a dialogue between man and God-Creator. It is really marvelous as regards the qualities and the condensation of the truths contained in it. Without any difficulty we discover that content, under the layer of the ancient narrative. In this case, the term "myth" does not designate a fabulous content, but merely an archaic way of expressing a deeper content.
The way of narrating agrees with the way of thinking and expressing oneself of the period to which the text belongs.įollowing the contemporary philosophy of religion and that of language, it can be said that the language in question is a mythical one. In language and in style, the second narrative keeps all the characteristics of the Yahwist text.
Following the Yahwist text, in which the creation of woman was described separately (Gn 2:21-22), we must have before our eyes, at the same time, that "image of God" of the first narrative of creation. The latter is based on masculinity and femininity, as if on two different "incarnations," that is, on two ways of "being a body" of the same human being created "in the image of God" (Gn 1:27).Ģ. Therefore, the meaning of "original solitude," which can be referred simply to "man," is substantially prior to the meaning of original unity. Although the human body in its normal constitution, bears within it the signs of sex and is by its nature male or female, the fact, however, that man is a "body" belongs to the structure of the personal subject more deeply than the fact that in his somatic constitution he is also male or female. Then, it makes us think of the same man, but through the dualism of sex.Ĭorporality and sexuality are not completely identified. On the contrary, the Yahwist text of the second chapter authorizes us, in a way, to think first only of the man since, by means of the body, he belongs to the visible world but goes beyond it. Man is "male and female" right from the beginning. The narrative of the first chapter of Genesis does not know the problem of man's original solitude. If Christ quoted these words referring to the "beginning," it is opportune for us to clarify the meaning of that original unity, which has its roots in the fact of the creation of man as male and female. Christ referred to them in his talk with the Pharisees: "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Mt 19:5). Together with this narrative, the sense of original solitude becomes part of the meaning of original unity, the key point of which seems to be precisely the words of Genesis 2:24. The words of Genesis, "It is not good that the man should be alone" (2:18) are a prelude to the narrative of the creation of woman. GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 7 NOVEMBERĪt the General Audience in St Peter's Square on 7 November, John Paul II continued his cycle of catechesis on marriage.ġ.
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