Geneza i teologiczne orędzie biblijnej relacji o potopie (Rdz 6-9)

The memory of a disastrous and vast deluge that took place in a very distant past appears in the texts of legends that originated in many civilizations and cultures. The biblical tradition, or rather traditions (pre-pastoral and pastoral), borrow numerous images and symbols from this heritage of mankind, so that within their own monotheistic theology the episode in the history of the early stage of mankind could be recorded. What in the Middle East mythologies and epics was ascribed to jealous gods’ whims, in Gen 6-9 is presented as the work of a just God, who rightly punishes the corrupted mankind for having destroyed His work of creation. In the biblical tradition also another theological motif appears that is completely missing from any ancient accounts of the deluge - the motif of God’s mercy and God's salutary interference into the history of the world and of man that aims at a revival of the universe and assumes the shape of a new work of creation. The present article tackles the issue of Gen 6-9 in a broad context of its relation to analogous Middle East traditions in order to show the origin, the process of editing as well as the literary and theological specificity of the biblical account of the Flood as completely as possible.