Dominion is an odd word. In Canada, it was a supermarket chain that went belly-up a few decades back. But it's there in Genesis 1 along with subdue. And these terms together have a pretty soiled history in terms of Western civilization's relationship with the environment. Like many christians I suspect, I kinda wished it just wasn't there. I've changed my mind, I think we need to reclaim these words, or at least the underlying concepts.
It started when I met with a friend, David, who asked me to help translate Genesis 1 into American Sign Language - and I realized how much more dynamic the first creation story is in ASL. English relies heavily on nouns and often becomes passive, static. For the concepts of 'dominion' and 'subdue', I used 'control' [sign comes from using the reins to control/steer a horse] together with the sign for 'boss': God says 'ok, you are going to be boss now for this area. that means you're gonna be responsible'
God created 'hadam' [= male + female, humanity] and then said 'look at these ecosystems. I'm gonna leave you in charge of them, okay?' This is in keeping with the Jewish concept of election, of chosen-ness, which was to be given not a special privilege but a special responsibility. So if God leaves hadam in charge for a while, then, at some point, God's gonna come back and say, 'Now, I left you in charge of those ecosystems that I love so much. How'd you make out?. . . I see. . . well, let's look at some specifics. Let's start with the northern cod, I love those codfish, how'd you make out with them? . . . I see . . . Well, then how about the ozone, I worked hard on that ozone, how'd you do with the ozone?" To be entrusted with management responsibilities is a trust, and at some point there comes an accounting, and the ones accountable are males and females. Us hadams.
Worship on Sunday morning centred around this theme, and the result was pretty powerful. We compared it to being a parent, responsible for your children. As a parent you simply make different choices, a multitude of small choices - to come home for dinner instead of staying longer at work, going to a recital or ball game instead of schmoozing at some opportuntity for self-advancement. We do it because it's our responsibility to love those kids, to nurture them, help them grow. And as parents we face the time of accounting, when our kids become adults, and we see how they engage the processes of living. Our failures haunt us. Our successes bring us peace. It's not about the big stuff, so much as it is about a lifetime of small choices. It's that way for us, as hadam, in our responsibilities for the ecosystems, our responsibilities to make sure they are getting what they need. [Hadam's first call was to replenesh the earth] The hebrew word, kabash, translated 'subdue', comes from a term meaning to make paths [ie. to create order in the wilderness]. V'yirdu, translated 'dominion' has its origin in words meaning 'to descend'. Neither means 'lord over' or 'plunder'.
Thank you so much for this reminder, we live in a world where we have cut, snipped, nipped and tucked the gospel into a moral code, a one way ticket on the mass transit to the kingdom on the last day. You can't read the gospels, the parables of Jesus and come to a revelation that it is so much more than saving souls.As new creations and co-heirs, and partners in the new creation...we ahve a much greater responsibilty in the redemptive process. Shalom...ron+
Posted by: ron | May 25, 2005 at 02:41 AM