A Person of Faith and Science - part 2

I said in my last piece that there are TWO stories in Genesis 1 & 2.  There are, and if you outline them, it becomes very clear.  
In the center is the creation of humans.  That's the main point in the inverted parallel style of most eastern Mediterranean literature, including verbal literature.  See Kenneth Bailey, "Poet and Peasant".

However, these two very different stories have been edited and combined into ONE story.  That story emphasizes that all of us, including the human genus, are creatures, not gods.  Cannot be gods.  Will never be gods.  Not to be worshiped.  etc. 

Careful scholars, who are derieded by the right wing of the Christian church, demonstrate this in their commentaries, monographs, books, etc.  This is not news.  The scholarly work dates back into the 1800's.  However, the understanding of the literary styles of the eastern Mediterranean peoples is newer -- since the 1960s' and 1970's. 

When people demand of me, "Do you take the Bible literally?" I usually answer, "Yes, if by 'literally' you mean as literature, following the conventions, rules of grammar, etc. of all literature.  And I study it as literature, read it as literature, and work at continuing to understand it as translated literature, translated by people who never lived in that ancient culture and are still figuring out what the norms, conventions and so forth were. 

As Kenneth Bailey said in a worshop, "Culture is what everybody knows and nobody knows.  It's just there.  Only an outsider can see it and identify it as culture.  Insiders simply know that that's how things are."


What do you think?  Post a comment and let us know.