god is a moron - genesis

[robvalue]

A few thoughts:

The separate creation myths of Genesis 1 and 2 are probably reflective of two different traditions that were incorporated into Jewish theology, each evolving to possess their own significance. For example, one may have been viewed as the creation of mankind in general, while the other specifically related the original progenitors of the Hebrews. Philo of Alexandria, for example, considered Genesis 1 to represent the creation of the Platonic Ideas whereas Genesis 2 related their manifestation into a multiplicity of material objects. He also ascribed to an allegorical interpretation of the seven days by reading Pythagorean number theory into them.

That's not to say that there haven't always been literalists who mistake the symbolism of the myth for (un)factual description, but that is a deeply impoverished reading of the text that misses the philosophical or theological ideas concealed beneath the surface, in much the same way that underlying Plato's Timaeus or Ovid's Metamorphoses are a wealth of possible metaphysical or moral considerations to explore.

This made me think that Christians may well miss out on certain aspects of the bible. Because they have to take it somewhat seriously, they are much less likely to actually consider the source of the myths, why we have more than one account of some things and so on. While pretending it is fully coherent and original, they will fail to appreciate the real history of the book in the way an objective reader can.

That's rather a sad thought