| Historical context of Biblical stories? (See details.)?

Historical context of Biblical stories? (See details.)?

Tao asked:


Anyone have any information or theories on the proper historical context of some of the stories in the Bible?

Some examples…

The story of Adam and Eve as allegory for the Agricultural Revolution… http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqI22GPFyn1pjWepUAijF7Pty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070423151857AAYpYDM

or

Sexual morality based on an aggressive population growth program.. ie, see my answer to this question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As.jbholAXN3rd_vguc4_PXty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070524232002AAfPq4U

Theist or atheist, I think we can mostly agree that the stories of the Bible (OT particularly) represent the cultural history of the tribe that became the Hebrews. If the stories themselves weren’t important, they wouldn’t have been shared let alone passed on for generations before finally being written down. The stories exist whether or not the literal interpretations are true or not.

Thanks
Just A Girl - Yes, I’m a fan of Jared Diamond. “Guns, Germs and Steel” is a book that everyone should read. I actually read it initially to put my theory on Adam and Eve to the test.

Any insight into the proper historical context of any other Biblical story or concept?

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Comments

One Response to “Historical context of Biblical stories? (See details.)?”

  1. Just A Girl on April 25th, 2009 6:40 pm

    I’m an anthropology grad student, and last year I read “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, which focuses heavily on the role agriculture has played in the advancement of various societies. As I read about the history of the domestication of plants in the Levant, I couldn’t help but think about the Adam and Eve story.

    I do think it’s entirely possible that the story was written as an allegorical moral about the results of man’s misuse of his environment (symbolized by the Tree).

    And I think that is true for many other biblical stories, as well. Aesop’s Fables were written to teach morals for the same reason. It’s just that the biblical stories came to be believed as literal history, which is a shame because there is so much beauty in them when read from a literary standpoint.