The Names of God: Poetic Readings in Biblical Beginnings

1. The Names Of God: The Problem: A Preliminary Review -- A Meta-literary Address To The Problem: Source Analysis -- An Essentially Literary Address To The Problem: Cassuto -- The Names Of God In Nonnarrative Texts And The Evolution Of Biblical Monotheism -- Excursus: On The Name Of God In The Psalter -- On The Evolution Of Biblical Monotheism -- On Terms For Divinity, Common And Proper -- The Names 'elohim And Yhwh -- Yhwh Introduces Himself By Name -- The Patriarch's Use Of The Name Yhwh -- The Solution To The Problem: A (literary) Hypothesis Part I Stories -- The Primeval History -- 2. The Creation Story In Genesis, Ch. 1:1-2:4a -- The Bearing Of Enuma Elish On Genesis 1 -- The Genesis Creation Story: Translation -- The Genesis Creation Story: Commentary On Days One To Six -- Review Of Diction In The Six Days Of Creation -- Literalism And Metaphor In Genesis 1 And Enuma Elish -- A Poetic Reading Of Enuma Elish -- Paganism And Biblical Religion Compared And Contrasted -- Pagan And Biblical Anthropology: A Contrast -- 3. Eden And Eden's Aftermath -- The Story Of Eden -- Sexuality, Sapience, And Civilization -- Sexuality And Death: Their Nexus -- Why Must Man Die? -- The Eden Mythos: Its Kerygma -- Aftermath Of Eden: Second Generation, Second Banishment -- Poetical Review Of Eden Vis-a-vis The Creation Story -- Poetical Review Of The Names Of God -- The Compound Name: Yhwh-elohim -- Excursus: The Nonliterary Approach To Cain And Abel -- Poetical Review Of Genesis 1-5 4. The Floods Of Noah And Utnapishtim: Theology Straight And Theology Satiric -- On Floods And Birds; On Literalness And Source Analysis -- The Babylonian Flood Story -- The Babylonian Flood Story As A Critique Of Paganism -- The Biblical Flood Story: Text -- On The Sources Or Strands In The Flood Story: A Preliminary Discussion -- Poetical Review Of The Flood Story -- A Note On The Strands -- Noah's Deluge And Utnapishtim's: A Comparison -- 5. From Noah To Abram -- The Drunkenness Of Noah -- The Tower Of Babel: Text And Preface -- Mesopotamian Connections -- Babel In Its Biblical Setting -- The Primeval History: An Overview 6. Events In The Life Of Abraham -- Abram The Noble Warrior -- The Covenant (concluded) Between The (animal) Parts -- Episode A: Revelation, Promise (and Trust) -- Episode B: How The Covenant Was Made -- Abram's Other Wife -- The Names Of God In Genesis, Chapters 16 And 21 -- The Annunciation Of Isaac's Birth -- Two Versions -- Annunciation's Aftermath -- Yhwh And Abraham In A Dialogue On God's Justice -- The Story Of Lot -- The Names Of God In Genesis, Chapters 18 And 19 -- Three Domestic Triangles -- Poetical Review Of The Names Of God -- The Madness Of Father Abraham: Genesis 22 -- Comparing The Akeda With Another Binding -- Isaac And Iphigenia, Abraham And Agamemnon: A Comparison Part Ii: Structures -- 7. Structures As A Biblical Literary Phenomenon -- Genealogies And Chronologies Of Cain And Seth -- Genealogies Continued: The Line Of Shem -- The Chronologies Of The Lines Of Seth And Shem -- Chronology As Clue To Narrative: The Missing Years In Jacob's Life -- How Four Hundred Years Can Equal Four Generations -- Playing The Bible's Number Game: Another Solution -- Abram's Roots And Uprootings -- Abraham's Revelations And Altars -- Digging Wells In Philistia -- Addendum: Two More Genealogies And Another Numbers Game -- 8. Poetical Odds And Addends -- Apologia -- In Re Genesis 1: Scripture And The Mythopoeic Imagination -- Paganism, Ancient And Modern: Metaphysics In Myth And Science -- The Sabbath: Its Meaning -- The Septets Of (social) Morality -- The Sabbath Day In The Two Decalogues: A Poetical Comparison -- Two More Addends. Herbert Chanan Brichto. Companion Vol. To The Author's Toward A Grammar Of Biblical Poetics, 1992. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 458-459) And Index.