The Ethical Conflicts And Salvations In Genesis

The Bible(The Old and New Testaments)is complicated in nature,playing multiple roles such as religious classic,historical documents,literary monument,and a work of ethical profundity.The Old Testament records many stories about the ethical concepts and moral life of the ancient Israeli people,and its narration is of ethical significance if examined by the perspective of ethical literary criticism.It expounds on ethics from the opening chapters,the style of which laid the ethical basis for Hebrew literature and has thrived through creative quotations and adaptations by the western literature over time.It is unquestionably advisable that ethical literary criticism be employed for studies of the ethical narration in The Old Testament,which can thus enable discovery of its ethical value.Based on the author's close reading of The Old Testament,this paper explores the ethical conflicts and salvations embodied in Genesis,employing the perspectives of ethical literary criticism and social historical criticism.This paper also discusses the causes of the aforementioned conflicts and salvations against social historical background and Judaism.The conclusion of this paper also touches the ethical subject of Genesis as well as its influence on later generations.The paper comprises five parts:The introduction contains a synopsis of The Bible,current study of The Bible at home and abroad,the significance of this study and the research methods.Chapter one discusses the ethical conflicts between God and men,individuals and groups,men and women in Genesis,and proceeds into the many tragedies triggered by violation of the God's ethics by men or violation of the group's ethics by individuals.The chapter includes three parts:part one analyses the ethical conflicts between God and men,i.e.conflicts between God's commandments and men's desires,and men's depravation and God's anger;part two is about the conflicts between individuals and groups,i.e.incest and incest taboos,fratricide and brotherhood,disobedience of son and dignity of father;part three looks into the ethical conflicts between men and women,i.e.men's will and women's will,gender equality and gender oppression.Chapter two analyses the solutions to the ethical conflicts in Genesis,i.e.the salvations.This chapter falls into four parts:part one analyses the salvation through love,i.e.men's love as well as God's love;part two tells of the salvation through punishment,i.e.God's punishment and men's punishment;part three discusses the salvation through redemption,i.e.confessions and tribulations;part four deals with the salvation through sacrifice,i.e.human sacrifice and animal sacrifice.Chapter three probes into the causes of the aforementioned conflicts.The chapter has two parts:part one deals with social and historical causes,i.e.influence of the ethical and social background of ancient Israel;part two discusses the influence of the Judaist monotheism and contract ethics.The conclusion reviews the whole paper,summarizing the ethical thoughts in Genesis as well as its influence on later generations.