W. Randall Garr

In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity, Divinity, and Monotheism (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East) W. Randall Garr

This book is about nothing less than Genesis 1, or human creation. Humanity, the author convincingly argues, is created within the Priestly tradition as a replacement of God's divine community; human creation marks the decisive moment that P's God separates himself from other gods and institutes monotheism. After discussing the references of God's self-inclusive yet plural first person speech and examining the ramifications of this speech pattern in other biblical texts, Randall Garr discusses the divine-human relationship as it is represented by carefully analyzing the prepositions and nouns that characterize it. After highlighting some themes and theological concepts elaborated in Gen 1, it clearly situates the creation of humanity within the programmatic agenda of the Priestly tradition.