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Adam and Eve (and Ishmael)...

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  • 19-11-2007 2:49am
    #1
    nobodythere
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,349 ✭✭✭


    I recently finished Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)#Ishmael.27s_interpretation_of_Genesis_2.4)
    and his theory about the origin of Adam and Eve make a whole load of sense once you've read the book and got what he's talking about.

    This book really opened my eyes to a lot but I'll just focus on Adam and Eve story for now.

    In short (if you didn't click my wiki link) the beginning of "totalitarian farming" 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent caused a massive change in the world that continues today, i.e. essentially living outside our means and controlling our own food supply. As there was no apparent limit to food supply with farming, population continued to grow, people had lots of kids who needed more land. A fundamental conundrum of farming, running out of land exponentially.

    As such, the fertile crescent needed to start spreading outwards to maintain its supply. Land, forests, would have been destroyed in order to make room for farming. Whole habitats destroyed for man's appetite. For the first time, man, instead of the 'gods' (or nature) decided who's day it was to die, what land was used for what (as opposed to hunter-gatherers).

    It also came at a penalty. Going against millions of years of evolution of our planet, we were exposed to plagues, a constant need to expand beyond our means. Mass famine began with farming (diseases became less localised) and yet it continued on. I haven't figured out why yet!

    On with the relevance:
    According to the book (no verification on this) the story of adam and eve came from the semites, who were just south of the fertile crescent.

    It's a story about our history using a creation myth as a vessel to keep it alive. It's obviously not a story of actual creation, if you were going to come up with a story such as that, Adam and Eve wouldn't have had two sons and no daughters.

    In the story, Adam and Eve are told not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", but they can have anything else in the garden. The "Knowledge of Good and Evil" is the great responsibility of deciding who lives and who dies. When they eat from this tree they are kicked out of the paradise (the hunter-gatherer lifestyle where everything is provided for) and sent to toil for the rest of their lives.

    And so...
    What do ye all think of that.


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    #2
    JimiTime
    Registered Users Posts: 7,418 ✭✭✭JimiTime


    grasshopa wrote: »
    I recently finished Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)#Ishmael.27s_interpretation_of_Genesis_2.4)
    and his theory about the origin of Adam and Eve make a whole load of sense once you've read the book and got what he's talking about.

    This book really opened my eyes to a lot but I'll just focus on Adam and Eve story for now.

    In short (if you didn't click my wiki link) the beginning of "totalitarian farming" 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent caused a massive change in the world that continues today, i.e. essentially living outside our means and controlling our own food supply. As there was no apparent limit to food supply with farming, population continued to grow, people had lots of kids who needed more land. A fundamental conundrum of farming, running out of land exponentially.

    As such, the fertile crescent needed to start spreading outwards to maintain its supply. Land, forests, would have been destroyed in order to make room for farming. Whole habitats destroyed for man's appetite. For the first time, man, instead of the 'gods' (or nature) decided who's day it was to die, what land was used for what (as opposed to hunter-gatherers).

    It also came at a penalty. Going against millions of years of evolution of our planet, we were exposed to plagues, a constant need to expand beyond our means. Mass famine began with farming (diseases became less localised) and yet it continued on. I haven't figured out why yet!

    On with the relevance:
    According to the book (no verification on this) the story of adam and eve came from the semites, who were just south of the fertile crescent.

    It's a story about our history using a creation myth as a vessel to keep it alive. It's obviously not a story of actual creation, if you were going to come up with a story such as that, Adam and Eve wouldn't have had two sons and no daughters.

    In the story, Adam and Eve are told not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", but they can have anything else in the garden. The "Knowledge of Good and Evil" is the great responsibility of deciding who lives and who dies. When they eat from this tree they are kicked out of the paradise (the hunter-gatherer lifestyle where everything is provided for) and sent to toil for the rest of their lives.

    And so...
    What do ye all think of that.

    Even leaving aside the inaccuracy that says Adam and Eve only had two sons, not much! So some guy thinks of a story to explain what he see's as a story, hardly groundbreaking IMO. In fact, as someone who actually believes in Adam and Eve, I'd say there has been better explainations against Adam and Eve than the above. thats my 2 cent anyway.


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    #3
    nobodythere
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,349 ✭✭✭nobodythere


    The two sons thing was my two cents...


    That's the way I learned it anyway! "Adam and eve blah blah they had two sons named cain and abel.." I could rhyme it off i've heard it so much :)


  • Options
    #4
    JimiTime
    Registered Users Posts: 7,418 ✭✭✭JimiTime


    grasshopa wrote: »
    The two sons thing was my two cents...


    That's the way I learned it anyway! "Adam and eve blah blah they had two sons named cain and abel.." I could rhyme it off i've heard it so much :)

    "Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to do his homework";):)


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