Biblical and classical heroic reversals in Genesis and epic literature

¶ … Biblical narrative of Genesis, the characters are less clearly defined as personalities than the heroes of Homeric epics. Instead, their sense of moral worth as human beings is defined by their actions. Adam and Eve are the first human beings, not unique human beings in terms of their heroism. They defied the orders of God, ate the apple of the tree of knowledge, and brought sin into the world. Homeric characters are more sharply defined by their innate character traits: Odysseus is clever, Penelope is faithful, and Achilles is short-tempered but highly adept in battle.

Homeric characters are also less clearly judged by their morality in the sense of their obedience to the gods. Odysseus harms the son of Poseidon and is judged harshly, even though he only blinded the Cyclops in self-defense to protect himself and his men. But Athena values Odysseus and protects him because of his cleverness, so despite angering one of the gods, Odysseus is returned safely home. Piety to the gods is shown by accepting one's fate and not having the hubris to challenge it rather than keeping to certain commandments.

In the Bible, although God may know what will occur, He still gives human beings free will to make a choice to sin or to be moral. This sense of autonomy and choice and independence of the divine will would be seen as sacrilegious to the Greeks, who believed that human life was entirely dependent upon fate. However, they also clearly believed that the gods could be merciful when they showed favor upon an individual such as Odysseus, even though Odysseus is not 'moral' in a Biblical sense because of his frequent transgressions of moral values, such as fidelity and nonviolence.

In Homer, even good men and women may meet with a terrible fate unjustly, like King Priam of Troy and Achilles' friend Patroclus. In the Bible, the suffering of the good usually occurs for a reason to illustrate a moral, rather than is portrayed as a random act of the gods. That is also why humor and moral ambiguity are less present in Genesis and other books of the Bible. Characters illustrate principles and are static in nature. In the Homeric epics, characters are capable of change and growth, and are thus less suited to illustrating clear morals.

Q2. According to Augustine, God is eternal. The universe was not created at a specific point in time. Notions of present and past, like years of the calendar, are false, human constructions rather than part of the true nature of the divine order. The human, chronological understanding of history should not be confused with God's notion of time, which is different from ours.

This helps shed light upon the Genesis narrative, which Augustine sees not as a historical event, but more of a metaphorical expression of God's relationship with the world. Also, because there is no past and present, the truths manifest in Genesis, like Original Sin and the fallen nature of man, remain present within the current moral order. Time is an illusion, given the eternal nature of the human soul and God.