Humans and nonhumans as נֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה and Ntu-Beings
The Hebrew text of Gen 2:7, 19 describes both humans and animals as nephesh hayya’ (living being). However, a large number of contemporary influential Bible translations render this expression differently for humans and animals. It is translated living being for humans (v.7), but living thing/creat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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Old Testament Society of South Africa
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Old Testament Essays |
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| Online Access: | https://ote-journal.otwsa-otssa.org.za/index.php/journal/article/view/493 |
| Summary: | The Hebrew text of Gen 2:7, 19 describes both humans and animals as nephesh hayya’ (living being). However, a large number of contemporary influential Bible translations render this expression differently for humans and animals. It is translated living being for humans (v.7), but living thing/creature for animals (v.19). This is however not justified by any clue in the text, which views humans and non-humans as both adamah-beings and nephesh hayyah. Likewise, African-Bantu cosmology depicts humans and non-humans as ntu-beings (muntu: human being; kintu: non-human being; hantu: place and time; kuntu: means or approach).The root ntu in the word kuntu implies that the way muntu (human being) interacts with other beings (kintu, hantu) must be informed by a vision of nature not as a “thing” but a living being. In addition to elements of socio-historical approaches and African-Bantu indigenous cosmology, this study makes uses of a hermeneutics of suspicion and the Earth Bible principle of mutual custodianship to retrieve ecological wisdom of Gen 2 in the African context.
https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2022/v35n2a3
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| ISSN: | 1010-9919 2312-3621 |