RE: [asa] RE: Are there guidelines for accommodational interpretation?

I think Bill's point was, not what you or Sumerologists think Genesis 1-11
might be, but is there actual evidence of your assertion?

Your whole paragraph was, "Somewhere around the first century AD, Christian
apologetics took a wrong turn. What had been handed down to the children of
Israel as the history of their people beginning with Adam and Noah and
Abraham in southern Mesopotamia was misinterpreted by the early church
fathers as the story of the creation of the first human beings."

I think the burden of proof is on you to show 1) that ancient Israel B.C.
considered the Adamite genealogy/history to be primarily limited to
Israelite/Semitic history, not all mankind, and 2) Christians changed this
interpretation to make Genesis refer to the origin of all mankind, and 3)
this "wrong turn" was not directly attributable to the apostle Paul and
other Biblical authors (i.e., if apostolic authorship were responsible for
the new apologetic, it would be difficult, but not impossible, to argue it
was an error in their interpretation).

My understanding was that Christian tradition and Jewish tradition were not
all that different, but I'd be glad to consider if you (or someone) has
specific evidence that a Christian reinterpretation of the Adam story took
place. That would definitely be interesting. Or is this a speculative "it
must have happened" because it fits your theory?

Jon Tandy

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of Dick Fischer
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:47 PM
To: ASA
Subject: RE: [asa] RE: Are there guidelines for accommodational
interpretation?

Hi Bill, you wrote:

>>This is perhaps a very important point. Can you point to references
that
document that Genesis 1-11 "had been handed down to the children of Israel
as the history of their people beginning with Adam and Noah and Abraham in
southern Mesopotamia"?<<

Well, we can be pretty sure it's the history of the Semites and Arabs. The
question is: Is it anybody else's history? One interesting point I hadn't
thought of until I started digging back into ANE history again. The setting
for the entirity of Genesis 2-11 is southern Mesopotamia. Notice that
artifacts of bronze were manufactured by Adamites prior to the flood.

There is no source of copper ore in all of Mesopotamia. It had to be
imported from coppermines in either Iran, Anatolia or perhaps the Gulf
region. This alludes to trade that had developed in Sumer and Akkad, where
there is a scarcity in mineral sources, with other regions who received
wheat, barley and beer in return.

Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History www.genesisproclaimed.org

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Received on Wed Jun 14 06:22:19 2006