Smith Essay/Blog 1

Amy Smith

WGS 3463

Essay/Blog 1

Within the two creation narratives in the first two chapters of Genesis, gender differentiation appears in the second narrative.  In fact, there is no differentiation or even a chronology presented in God’s creation of humans.  In the first narrative, found in Genesis 1:24-27, humans were simply created in the image of God.  The author makes no reference to a chronology of which human was created first:  “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  While the author of this narrative establishes a human hierarchy over every other living creature on the earth, as shown in Genesis 1:26 (including animals, fish, and birds), any hierarchy between humans is notably absent.  As Susan Niditch argues, “Without establishing relative rank or worth of the genders, the spinner of this creation tale indicates that humankind is found in two varieties, the male and female, and this humanity in its complementarity is a reflection of the Deity” (Niditch, 30). 

In the first account, gender may be created and shown more in the events leading up to the statement of human creation, found in Genesis 1:27.  The authors of the first narrative appear to emphasize difference the physical aspects of the earth, as evidenced in verse 8 (sky and earth), verse 10 (earth and water), and verse 14 (night and day).  These differences may be opposite in terminology, such as night and day, or may be two parts of a whole, as referenced in earth and water.  This part of the narrative lays the groundwork for gender difference in the creation of humans; by the time humans come into being, the terms “male and female” are part of the continuum of creation.  

The second narrative found in the second chapter of Genesis is much more detailed and includes a timeline of creative events, which appears to establish a gendered hierarchy that is maintained in many religious traditions today.  God creates man out of the “dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7).  Verses 21-23 describes how God created woman from man, and it is man who declares his own involvement in the creation of woman:  “This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man his one was taken” (Genesis 2:23).  As Niditch points out, religious traditions such as Judaism and Christianity have “…viewed woman’s creation in Genesis 2 as secondary and derivative – evidence of her lower status” (Niditch, 30).