{"id":9793,"date":"2025-11-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9793"},"modified":"2025-05-24T17:15:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T17:15:34","slug":"looking-at-dennis-venema-and-scot-mcknights-book-2017-adam-and-the-genome-part-16-of-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9793","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight\u2019s Book (2017) “Adam and the Genome” (Part 16 of 22)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0168 So, Augustine solved one challenge and created another.  The new challenge must be viewed as an opportunity.  The concept of Original Sin<\/em> is a powerful defense against Manichean ideologies<\/em>.  The opportunity comes, not from abandoning the concept, but by re-writing the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0169 Venema lowers the curtain on one side of the stage of Augustine\u2019s play.  The science of genetics<\/em> rules out Adam and Eve as the first anatomically modern humans<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKnight aims to lower the curtain on the other side of Augustine\u2019s play.  The archaeological discovery of an ancient Near East literature<\/em> rules out the stories of Adam and Eve<\/em> as literal accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0170 This raises a question.  If the stories of the Fall<\/em> are mythic traces of actual events,<\/em> then what were these events?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, I can expand the query.  If all the written origin stories of the ancient Near East<\/em> trace to one traumatic unfolding<\/em>, then what was this event?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0171 Venema and McKnight are not aware that an alternate script<\/em> sits right off stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This alternate play<\/em> is a scientific hypothesis,<\/em> calling for a historical fairy-tale Adam and Eve<\/em>.  The hypothesis of the first singularity<\/em> may or may not be true (as opposed to false).  The efforts to establish or debunk the proposal should prove dramatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0172 The hypothesis of the first singularity<\/em> addresses this question: Why is our current Lebenswelt<\/em> not the Lebenswelt that we evolved in?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0173 A Lebenswelt<\/em> is a living world<\/em>.  The term was coined in order to describe the cultural bubble that we humans live in<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0174 Why do I suspect that our current Lebenswelt<\/em> is not the Lebenswelt that we evolved in?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0175 The archaeological record<\/em> contains a discontinuity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0176 The Ubaid of southern Mesopotamia<\/em> is evident in the archaeological record by 5800 B.C.  The culture forms even earlier, but this is the year that I denote 0 U0\u2019 (Ubaid Zero Prime).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, the technical details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zero U0′ corresponds to the start of the Ubaid,<\/em> even though the Ubaid constellated over several hundred years.  I suspect that this date will be adjusted.  In 2025, zero U0′ corresponds to 7825 years ago.  In comparison, year 0 for the Byzantine Church is 7533 years ago.  Year 0 is 6265 years ago according to the Egyptian calendar.  Year 0 for the Jewish calendar is 5785 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, expect zero Ubaid Zero Prime<\/em> to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it will change to 6800 B.C. or 8800 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, let me stay with Ubaid Zero Prime as 5800 B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply subtract 5800 from U0′ to get the year in B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0177 Now, back to the Ubaid of southern Mesopotamia<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1300 U0\u2019, the Ubaid suddenly expands into northern Mesopotamia, taking over other Developed Neolithic sites.  This is a first.  Around 1800 U0\u2019, the Uruk period starts as town-chiefdoms.  They invent the wheel.  They also figure out how to use donkeys for long distance transportation.  These are all firsts.  Around 2800 U0\u2019, the Sumerian civilization starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0178 In the course of 2800 years, a budding village culture of the Developed Neolithic<\/em> becomes the world\u2019s first civilization<\/em>.  Egypt follows the same trajectory in even less time.  The same transition occurs in the valleys of western Iran, then the Indus Valley, then along the river valleys in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From all appearances, something<\/em> spreads from the Ubaid to the rest of Eurasia, then beyond.  Obviously, this is a cultural transition that potentiated civilization (that is, unconstrained social complexity)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0179 A graph of world-human population shows a break at 0 U0\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0168 So, Augustine solved one challenge and created another.  The new challenge must be viewed as an opportunity.  The concept of Original Sin is a powerful defense against Manichean ideologies.  The opportunity comes, not from abandoning the concept, but by re-writing the play. 0169 Venema lowers the curtain on one side of the stage of Augustine\u2019s play.  The science of genetics rules […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[581],"class_list":["post-9793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","tag-historical-adam"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight\u2019s Book (2017) "Adam and the Genome" (Part 16 of 22) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight\u2019s Book (2017) "Adam and the Genome" (Part 16 of 22) - 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