If this were the 10th Century AD or so we'd have another schism on our hands, like the one that split early Christendom in two over a single word.
As it is, we're probably facing a number of angry blog posts and perhaps a couple of youtube videos at the very most.
What is the case? Dutch theologian Dr. Ellen van Wolde of the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen is about to drop the hammer tomorrow when she presents her theory that the accepted translation of the first sentence of Genesis (and the bible) was wrong all along. Traditionally translated as "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.", the more accurate translation would be "In the beginning, God seperated the heaven and the earth", according to Dr. Van Wolde.
Before this seperation there allegedly already was a kind of primordial ocean. One that housed seamonsters and the like. Incidentally, not entirely unlike other Creation myths predating the bible.
Actual footage.
If all this would be plenty to start your own brand of Christianity, Dr. Van Wolde has more to throw onto the fire. God was not alone during Creation (or Seperation, or whatever). Her analysis of ancient Hebrew editions of Genesis turns up that God also addresses colleague deities.
She also points out that this makes the position of Creationist untenable. Well, not as if it was tenable to begin with, but if her conclusions are correct, it does rather drive the last nail in the coffin.
Not born yesterday, Dr. Van Wolde does concede she does not expect any Creationists will actually let themselves be convinced by this. But everyone else is allowed to laugh even harder.
If they were clever they might of course point this out as biblical proof of the Nebular Hypothesis. Except the bit about multiple Gods; that's going to be trickier to explain away.
Source: http://www.gelderlander.nl/algemeen/dgbinnenland/5627738/Toen-God-begon-was-er-al-zeeleven.ece (Dutch)
Shame I only see this blog entry now.
ReplyDeleteSo the Latin translation of the Hebrew version is wrong? Or the Greek one? Or the English one?
You should compare Genesis to the original Gilgamesh epic; the parallels you'll discover are amazing. Van Wolde wouldn't be the first one to claim that the Bible is just a mesh-up of myths and stories, although this is the first time I've heard about 'God's colleague deities'.
- Jeroen (you know, the former HBO-one)