“God formed man, dust from the
earth, and he breathed in his face a breath of life, and man became a living
soul” (Genesis 2.7).
Christos Yannaras, in his book Elements of Faith, explains the
importance of breathing in ones face, stating: “To breath in the face of
someone else was always for the Hebrews (and for the Semitic peoples generally)
an act of the deepest symbolism: it means that you transmit to the other your
breath, something very inwardly yours, your own self-consciousness or your
spirit. This is so since breathing is a presupposition of life, the element
which constitutes you as an active being, and all the experiences – fear,
angry, joy, pride – all influence breathing, they show a relationship of
breathing with your deepest being, your own self. When, then, the Scripture
says that God blew his own breath in the earthly face of man, this image is to
demonstrate the communication to man of certain marks of the very existence of
God. In biblical language the result of this communication is that man becomes
a living soul”. (p. 54-55).
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