Q.

Are they from a common source?

144

Q

Joshua Einsohn

Who is...

?

Joshua Einsohn

I am a dork. Big one.

A.

I’m sure that there is a certain amount of history woven into the

Bible and that there are some facts included. However, many of

the stories are just that: stories and tales handed down by word-

of-mouth from the many generations before the Bible was written. The world

was a larger and more mysterious place and needed explaining, and the sto-

ries that helped best to elucidate the world were the ones that stuck around.

It’s like a big game of intergenerational and interregional “telephone.”

The stories that made the most sense got tweaked a little bit from place to

place to fi t that culture and that time. The Jews had heard a lot of those stories

and adjusted them to fi t their belief that the world was governed by one

unknowable God and not by many smaller, petulant, human-like gods.

Two thousand years from now, if we haven’t blown ourselves to bits, I’m

sure they’ll have new versions of the same stories to give solace to the people

who need to understand why the world is what it is.

Scriptural References

Genesis 1, 2; 6:5—10:32

Suggested Additional Source for Reading

• Claus Westermann, Genesis 1–11: A Continental Commentary (Fortress
  Press, 1994).

Suggested Questions for Further Discussion/Thought

1. Would these stories have different signifi cance for you if they were not
   literally true? How so?


2. Are there other examples of stories in the Bible that you believe are
   similar to stories from other cultures you’ve heard? Like what?


3. Why do you think so many cultures throughout history share stories with
   “universal truths”?

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