{"id":4988,"date":"2021-11-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=4988"},"modified":"2022-04-28T20:00:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T20:00:57","slug":"does-the-genre-of-genesis-influence-its-interpretation-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=4988","title":{"rendered":"Looking at the Book (2015) Genesis: History, Fiction or Neither? (Part 6 of 38)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0018 What if Genesis is neither history nor fiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title of the book offers this option as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Halton proposes that an alternate judgment arises after cuneiform-bearing clay tablets are unearthed from tells in the Near East.  They are found in ruins of royal libraries.  Clever scholars figure out how to translate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First the tablets are read.  Then, they are interpreted in light of the genres that they display.  The literature of the ancient Near East<\/em> contains its own genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading<\/em> yields what is<\/em>.  Interpretation<\/em> produces what ought to be<\/em>.  Genre<\/em> brings interpretation (what ought to be<\/em>) into relation<\/em> with reading (what is<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0019 Here is a picture of how extra-Biblical contemporaneous writing<\/em> offers the neither option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0020 This judgment clearly transcends the either\/or dichotomy of the religion and science controversy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one genre, Gen 1-11 is read and interpreted as history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another genre, Gen 1-11 is read and interpreted as fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the old either\/or battle<\/em> merely shift to the terrain of genre?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, we may project modern genres<\/em> onto the literature of the ancient Near<\/em> East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, the literature of the ancient Near East<\/em> is neither history nor fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0018 What if Genesis is neither history nor fiction? The title of the book offers this option as well. Charles Halton proposes that an alternate judgment arises after cuneiform-bearing clay tablets are unearthed from tells in the Near East.  They are found in ruins of royal libraries.  Clever scholars figure out how to translate them. First the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,142,156,143,155],"tags":[64,145,151,29,45,150,147,148,153,154,146,149,111,152,50,44],"class_list":["post-4988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-an-archaeology-of-the-fall","category-first-singularity","category-genesis-1-11","category-romans-512-19","category-stories-of-adam-and-eve","tag-adam-and-eve","tag-charles-halton","tag-eden","tag-first-singularity","tag-genesis","tag-genre","tag-gordon-wenham","tag-history","tag-interpretation","tag-james-hoffmeier","tag-kenton-sparks","tag-mesopotamia","tag-original-sin","tag-protohistory","tag-religion","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at the Book (2015) Genesis: History, Fiction or Neither? 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