Comments on: The Bible as Ethnography ~ 02 ~ In The Beginning… https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/ Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:34:31 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: sinned34 https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530939 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:34:31 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530939 Actually, the number of ribs is not the only idea that strikes me as Lamarkian. The idea that susceptibility to sin could be passed down to Adam and Eve’s offspring also suggests that obtained traits can be passed down to descendants. One more reason that evolution by natural selection must be false, I guess.

]]> By: Lilian Nattel https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530938 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:31:55 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530938 The two stories come from two different traditions (I can’t remember which of the letters goes with which). The Hebrew word “adam” also means person. There is an ancient midrash that the first person was both male and female, back to back, and that was realized to be a dead end and so they were split apart and have been trying to get back together ever since.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530937 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:38:33 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530937 I’ve heard that as well, but cannot remember from where. Some 19th century anatomist most likely.

]]> By: Aaron Golas https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530936 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:34:10 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530936 As long as we’re going out on limbs, I seem to recall hearing at some point that the “rib” might actually refer to the os penis, which humans lack. I forget the source and their justification, though.

]]> By: Badger3k https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530935 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:59:24 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530935 One explanation that I have heard is that in a Sumerian creation myth, the god Enki is cured by a goddess whose name is Ninti, which translates as both “lady who makes life” and “lady of the rib” (apparently the “ti” part had a double meaning, like so many of our words). This might have passed through the years as a “lady who came from a rib”. Maybe. With myths it is really hard to tell, but we can speculate.

]]> By: Romeo Vitelli https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530934 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:49:58 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/02/12/the-bible-as-ethnography-02-in-1/#comment-530934 Don’t forget the story of Lilith. While not part of Genesis, the tradition that Eve wasn’t Adam’s first wife is fairly old. Whether it was based on certain Babylonian myths or just a clumsy attempt to reconcile the two accounts of creation in Genesis, her legend seems to have taken on a life of its own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

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