Description
Book SynopsisThe Bible highly praises human creativity. In fact, work belongs to Adam’s very creation, homo faber in the image of deus faber (Gen. 2:15). Human production is nevertheless seen in the Bible as imbued with an ambiguous value. In Work and Creativity, André LaCocque reflects on the biblical understanding of labor, juxtaposing texts from the book of Genesis with the conceptions of work of psychoanalysts and philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx, and proposing a dialectical approach to human work and creativity.
Trade ReviewThis work is remarkable in several respects. It is one of the very few studies on the theme of work in the Bible, although that theme is front and central in the creation story in Genesis. It is deeply engaged with European philosophy from Hegel to Ricoeur, to a greater degree than any biblical study I can recall. Finally, it articulates a model for a dialectical biblical theology, that rejects any univocal systematizing and insists on ambiguity and paradox. This is the crowning work of a very distinguished career by an urbane and learned scholar. -- John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale University
André LaCocque has written an exceedingly subtle book on interpretation. This work has required him to bring into play his astonishing erudition as he mobilizes the great critical tradition of Western philosophy. His text is the tale of origins in Genesis 2-3. His theme is “work” as he ponders, in Genesis 2-3, first human generative work that co-creates with God the creator, and then work as drudgery that lacks any generativity. His method is dialectical, through which he shows that the narrative text will not allow closure or certitude, but only on-going interpretation. LaCocque’s accent on “share faber-ness” of deus faber and homo faber is the pivot of this welcome study. He here brings together a life-time of learning to show how biblical interpretation at its best engages both the resources and challenges of modern thinking. -- Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
Table of ContentsPart One What about the J Tradition? The Bible and Cuneiform Texts: A Primary Stage of Intertextuality What Do Philosophers Say? First Excursus: The General and the Particular The Garden Raises the Problem of Space and, Subsidiarily, of Evil Homo Faber Home and Exile: Encountering the Other Once More on Production Adam Is Property Tenant; Consumption The Relation with God Work Mechanized Today’s “Surplus Value” Entelechy Part Two Introduction A Response to Sigmund Freud On Freud’s Theory of Phylogenesis Libido or Aedificatio? Work as Knowledge Work, Knowledge, and Death Second Excursus: Ernest Becker Work and Civilization: Morality and Guilt Work and Worldview Third Excursus: The Commandment Synopsis Part Three For a Dialectical Understanding Peripeteia A Concluding Reflection on Dialectical Work and Creativity The Dialectic Is Dialogical The Enigmatic (Dialectic) Relationship of Israel and Land On Lex Talionis On Divorce On Kashrut Genesis 3 Revisited Rebellion Back to the Tree of Knowledge Postscript: Dialectical Criticism among Other Methodologies
