Comments on: The Bible as Ethnography ~ 01 ~ Introduction https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/ Mon, 03 Jul 2017 17:19:20 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550210 Mon, 03 Jul 2017 17:19:20 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550210 Good point.

]]> By: David Formanek https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550209 Mon, 03 Jul 2017 16:29:06 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550209 Moses is a royal Egyptian name, like Thutmoses etc.
(I believe I read that in Freud’s _Moses and Monotheism._)
That comparison could not be made before the translation of the Rosetta Stone in the early 19th century

]]> By: Isaac https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550208 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:15:10 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550208 It’s a nice theory, but the Israelite religion around the time of the formation of the Bible had a strong connection with the Ancient Near East (Read: Iraq) – just as strong if not stronger than it did with Egypt and Africa. Mesopotamian civilization goes back to at least 3000 BCE.

In Mesopotamian culture there is a large pantheon – the gods interact with the kings (who certainly exist) but are clearly separate from him. The gods created, but are separate from, humanity.

The Bible makes much more sense as a polemic against kingship than it does as a reading where God is an actual king.

Read some Sumerian literature (Gilgamesh stories, Atrahasis epic) and you will quickly see that the Biblical author shares a common history and culture with those authors. I’d be happy to give you some references if you’d like.

]]> By: John S. Wilkins https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550207 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:46:23 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/27/the-bible-as-ethnography-01-in/#comment-550207 Greg, I have a similar set of ideas. See here, here, and here.

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