Dominion in Genesis: Search for a Religiological Interpretation

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to provide one of the possible religiological interpretations of the theme of human dominion over nature, which is found in the Biblical text about creation in Genesis 1:1–2:3. The main thesis of the article is that the Biblical commandment to rule can be understood in the context of the sacralization of the profane. For this purpose, the article mostly relies on the theory of the sacred developed by Mircea Eliade and partly on Jan Assmann's thoughts on the totality of monotheism. Based on this, the article observes that biblical dominion can be seen on three horizons, which are primarily existential and concern man's religious experience. These are the horizon of the sacred, the horizon of the mythical and the horizon of the totality. The latter is particularly characteristic of the monotheistic perception of dominion and manifests itself as an uncompromising consecration of time, space and beings. These processes are often carried out through the biblical language of conflict, which can also take on violent meanings. Therefore, the article initially presents complex and often controversial nature of the concept of dominion on the example of ecological criticism, which accuses Genesis of an anthropocentric abuse of nature. Nevertheless, violent and exploitative rule is not the core of monotheism. This is discussed in the rest of the article, which is dedicated to Eliade and Assmann's religiological thought and shows that the goal of a religious person is to bring himself and all of creation closer to their transcendental origin. The biblical engagement with dominion is therefore not anthropocentric, but theocentric, and does not have as its motive economic or political totalitarianism, but rather the total sanctification of the world according to the paradigmatic model of the creation myth.

Keywords

• dominion
• genesis
• bible
• creation
• religiology
• eliade
• sacred
• myth
• transcendence
• assmann