Genesis
I. Some basic versions of the Bible.
Genesis
1:1 in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, & KJV English
- Lecture.mp3
- Listen in iTunes
- Listen on Stitcher
-
I'll be using the KJV (King James Version) primarily for three
reasons:
- It is the literary English version of the Bible. Recent translations aim for readability rather than beauty.
- It's the version of the Bible that influences
English-language literature and culture from 1611 on. Even
recent movies like Pulp Fiction tend to fall back on
the KJV for their quotes rather than newer editions. So it's
the literary version of the English Bible in that sense as
well.
- There is no replacement for the KJV; instead, there are
around 100 English versions of the Bible competing for our
attention. I doubt any one version will emerge as the
preeminent one. That being said, if you have trouble
understanding the KJV, I encourage you to read a good modern
translation along with it. *NOT instead of it!!!!*
II. Science done badly
- Lecture.mp3
- Listen in iTunes
- Listen on Stitcher
-
Read Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow, Joseph Campbell, and
Kimura Kyūho on basic
approaches to myth. There are two basic approaches
they discuss.
- Hawking & Mlodinow place mythology into an evolutionary framework of epistemology (theory of knowledge):
- "Ignorance of nature's ways led people in ancient times to
postulate many myths in an effort to make sense of their
world." Hawking and Mlodinow are mainly focusing on etiology myths. What is an etiology
myth?
- "But eventually, people turned to philosophy, that is, to
the use of reason—with a good dose of intuition—to decipher
their universe.
- "Today we use reason, mathematics and experimental test—in
other words, modern science." People who try to use
outdated mythology to guide their science are guilty of
science done badly. To this I would add that they are
also doing mythology badly. In the old story of "It's
turtles all the way down," the very act of asking an
Enlightenment question changes the nature of the myth in the
mind of the believer. Most of us have very
sophisticated ideas about myth except concerning our
own. We don't feel the need to find the sun tunnel
under the earth Gilgamesh travelled through; however, we are
tempted to go to great extremes in such a project where the
Bible is concerned.
- Campbell deals with myth as an entirely different project
from science. Science can deliever facts; mythology
points us toward the Truth. All symbols point to something
beyond themselves; mythology is such a system of communication
rooted in our Jungian collective unconscious.
- In his 1969 book In Praise of Play, Robert E. Neale the stages people go through in relation to their sacred beliefs:
- Believe. In this phase, we simply accept the stories at face value. Santa is real.
- Disbelieve. We start to doubt that the stories are literally true, and lose faith in them. Santa is not real.
- Make believe. We re-enter into our myths, rituals, and traditions as make believe, a way of putting on another version ourselves, a path to finding that way to transcendence.
Which brings us back to Stephen Hawking. As one of the
smartest people in history, does his belief that mythology is,
in my words, science done badly make him immune to the allure of
a good myth? Watch this clip of Holograms Playing Poker.
Who is playing Stephen Hawking in this clip?
Why? Let's discuss this on Moodle.
III. In the beginning
Comparison chart of
Genesis 1 & Genesis 2 and Lecture 1.B.iii.
IV. 42
The book of Genesis is written to answer Humanity’s Oldest
Question. We all sense that, but usually when we
read Genesis, we don’t truly understand that answer.
Why? I call it the Hitchhiker’s Conundrum:
“‘The Answer to the Great Question... Of Life, the Universe and Everything... Is... Forty-two,’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
So the Hitchhiker’s Conundrum is that we know the answer to
humanity's oldest question; we just don’t know the
question. Before we proceed, go to Moodle and give your
best guess for that question. [Hint: it's NOT "What
is 6 x 7?"]
- Lecture.mp3
- Listen in iTunes
- Listen on Stitcher
-
So just what is humanity's oldest question? The problem
with most of our responses is that we are thinking
philosophically and theologically when we should be
thinking grammatically. When we think grammatically, finding
humanity's oldest question becomes simple — just look for the
question marks. When we start at Genesis 1:1 and start looking
for question marks, we get three questions in early Genesis that
typify the attitude of their speakers:
- The serpent: Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
- And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
- And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
Am I my brother's keeper? THIS is
humanity's oldest question. And the human who asks that question
is Cain. And whenever we ask that question, we too are
Cain.
הֲשֹׁמֵר אָחִי
אָנֹכִי׃ Hashomer
aḥi anokhi? --
Genesis 4:9. Our mutual responsibility for one another is
the thesis of Genesis. Yet we are so focused on incidental
matters like dinosaurs in Eden and the size of the ark that we
miss what Genesis is trying to tell us. But being our
brother's keeper completely transcends the science done badly of
Stephen Hawking, and even the getting in touch with your deeper
self of Joseph Campbell. Instead of looking back or
inside, Genesis demands that we look around.
The rest of Genesis is devoted to the various shades of being
our brother's keeper. This is the theme nobody is trying
to wedge into science class. The issue in our approach to
our fellows does not rely on the precise nature of the
relationship--we see brothers, half-brothers, cousins, parents
and children, husbands and wives, and other possible
permutation. Nor is the issue how much the person deserves
our help. The issue is our own character. Thus
Abraham tried to help Sodom and Gomorrah regardless of what they
may have deserved.
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